Knight-Errantry as a Trade
Sandy and I were on the road again, next morning, bright and early. It was so good to open up one’s lungs and take inⒶalteration in the MS whole luscious barrels-fullⒶrejected substantive of the blessed God’s untainted,Ⓐalteration in the MS dew-freshened, woodlandscented air once more, after suffocating body and mind for two days and nights in the moral and physical stenches of that intolerable old buzzard-roost! I mean, for me: of course the place was all right and agreeable enough for Sandy, for she had been used to high life all her days.Ⓐalteration in the MS
Poor girl, her jaws had had a wearisome rest, now, for a while; andⒶalteration in the MS IⒶemendation was expecting to get the consequences. I was right; but she had stood by me most helpfullyⒶalteration in the MS in the [begin page 221] castle, and had mightily supported and reinforced me with gigantic foolishnesses which were worth more for the occasion than wisdoms double their size; so I thought she had earned a right to work her mill for a while, if she wanted to, and I felt not a pang when she started it up:
“Now turn we unto Sir Marhaus that rode with the damsel of thirty winter of age southward—”
“Are you going to see if you can work up another half-stretch on the trail of the cow-boys, Sandy?”
“Even so, fair my lord.”
“Go ahead, then. I won’t interruptⒶemendation this time, if I can help it. Begin over again; start fair, and shake out all your reefs, and I will load my pipe and give good attention.”Ⓐemendation
“NowⒶemendation turn we unto Sir Marhaus that rode with the damsel of thirty winter of age southward.
And so they came into a deep forest, and
by fortune they were nighted, and rode longⒶrejected substantive in a deep way, and at the last they came into a courtelage where abode the duke of South
MarchesⒶemendation, and there they asked harbour. And on the morn the duke sent unto Sir Marhaus, and
bad makeⒶrejected substantive him ready. And so Sir Marhaus arose and armed him, and thenⒶrejected substantive there was a mass sung afore him, and he brake his fast, and so mounted on horseback
in the court of the castle, there they
should do the battle. So there was the duke already on horseback, clean armed, and
his six sons by him, and every each had a spear in
his hand, and so they encountered, where as the duke and his two sons brake their
spears upon him, but Sir Marhaus held up his spear
and touched none of them. Then came the four sons by couples, and two of them brake
their spears, and so did the other two. And all
this while Sir Marhaus touched them not. Then Sir Marhaus ran to the duke, and smote
him with his spear that horse and man fell to the
earth. And so he served his sons. And then Sir Marhaus alight down, and bad the duke
yield him or else he would slay him. And then some
of his sons recovered, and would have set upon Sir Marhaus. Then Sir Marhaus said
to the duke, Cease thy sons, or else I will do the
uttermost to you all. When the duke saw he might not escape the death, he cried to
his sons, and charged them to yield them to Sir
Marhaus. And they kneeled all down and put the pommels of their swords to the knight,
and so he received them. And then they holp up
their father, and so by their common assent promised
[begin page 222]
[begin page 223] unto Sir Marhaus never to be foes unto king Arthur, and thereupon at Whitsuntide after, to come he and his sons, and put them in the king’s grace.*Ⓔexplanatory note Ⓐtextual noteⒶemendation
“EvenⒶalteration in the MS so standeth the history, fair Sir Boss. Now ye shall wit that that very duke and his six sons are they whom but few days past you alsoⒶalteration in the MS did overcome and send to Arthur’s court!”
“Why, Sandy, you can’t mean it!”Ⓐalteration in the MS
“An I speak not sooth, let it be the worse for me.”
“Well, well, well—now who would ever have thought it? One whole duke and six dukelets; why Sandy, itⒶemendation was an elegant haul. Knight-errantryⒶemendation is a most chuckle-headed trade, and it is tedious hard work, too, but I begin to see that there is money in it, after all, if you have luck. Not that I would ever engage in it, as a business,Ⓐalteration in the MS for I wouldn’t. No sound and legitimate business can be established on a basis of speculation. AⒶalteration in the MS successful whirl in the knight-errantry line—now what is it, when you blow away the nonsense and come down to the cold facts? It’s just a corner in pork, that’s all, and you can’t make anything else out of it.Ⓐalteration in the MS You’re rich—yes, suddenly rich—for about a day, maybe a week: then somebody corners the market on you, and down goes your bucket-shopⒶalteration in the MS; ain’t that so, Sandy?”
“Whethersoever it be that my mind miscarrieth, bewraying simple language in such sort that the words do seem to come endlong and overthwart—”
“There’sⒶalteration in the MS no use in beating about the bush and trying to get around it that way, Sandy, it’s so, just as I say. I know it’s so. And moreover, when you come right down to the bed-rock, knight-errantry is worse than pork; for whateverⒶalteration in the MS happens, the pork’sⒶalteration in the MS left, and so somebody’s benefited, anyway; but when the market breaks, in a knight-errantry whirl, and every knight in the pool passes in his checks, what have you got for assets? Just a rubbish-pile of battered corpses and a barrel or two of busted hardware. Can you callⒶalteration in the MS those assets? Give me pork, every time. Am I right?”
“Ah, peradventureⒶalteration in the MS my head being distraught by the manifold matters whereunto the confusions of these butⒶalteration in the MS late adventured haps and fortunings whereby not I alone nor you alone, but every each of us, meseemeth—”Ⓐalteration in the MS
*The story is borrowed, language and all, from the Morte d’Arthur.—M. T.Ⓐrejected substantive Ⓐemendation [begin page 224]
“No, it’s not your head, Sandy. Your head’s all right, as far as it goes, but you don’t know business; that’s where the trouble is. It unfits you to argue about business, and you’re wrong to be always trying. However, that aside, it was a good haul, anyway, and will breed a handsome crop of reputation in Arthur’s court. And speaking of the cow-boys, what a curious country this is for women and men that never get old. Now there’s Morgan le Fay, as fresh and young as a Vassar pullet, to all appearances, and here is this old duke of the South MarchesⒶalteration in the MS still slashing away with sword and lance at his time of life, after raising such a family as he has raised. As I understand it, Sir Gawaine killedⒶalteration in the MS seven of his sons, and still he had six left for Sir Marhaus and me to take into camp. And then there was that damsel of sixty winter of age still excursioning around in herⒶalteration in the MS frosty bloom.—How old are you, Sandy?”
It was the first time I ever struck a still place in her. The mill had shut down for repairs, or something.Ⓐalteration in the MS