recover from the loss of blood; and at the end of five days he expressed
his hope that he could on the following day pursue his journey. The monk
who attended him shook his head.

"Thou mightst, under ordinary circumstances, quit us to-morrow, for thou
art well enough to take part in the ordinary pursuits of a page; but to
journey is a different thing. You may have all sorts of hardships to
endure; you may have even to trust for your life to your speed and
endurance; and it would be madness for you to go until your strength is
fully established. I regret to tell you that we have ascertained beyond
a doubt that the monastery is closely watched. We have sent some of the
acolytes out, dressed in the garbs of monks, and attended by one of our
elder brethren; and in, each case, a monk who followed at a distance of
fifty yards was able to perceive that they were watched. The town is
full of rough men, the hangers-on of the army; some, indeed, are
followers of laggard knights, but the greater portion are men who merely
pursue the army with a view to gain by its necessities, to buy plunder
from the soldiers, and to rob, and, if necessary, to murder should there
be a hope of obtaining gold. Among these men your enemies would have
little difficulty in recruiting any number, and no appeal that we could
make to the mayor would protect you from them when you have left the
walls. We must trust to our ingenuity in smuggling you out. After that,
it is upon your own strength and shrewdness that you must rely for an
escape from any snares that may be laid for you. You will see, then,
that at least another three or four days are needed before you can set
forth. Your countrymen are so far away that a matter of a few days will
make but little difference. They will in any case be delayed for a long
time at Marseilles before they embark; and whether you leave now or a
month hence, you would be equally in time to join them before their
embarkation--that is, supposing that you make your way through the