--"A flask of wine, ho!" said
the King; "of old King Isaac's long-saved Cyprus, which we won
when we stormed Famagosta. Fill to the stout Lord of Gilsland,
gentles--a more careful and faithful servant never had any
prince."
"I am glad," said Thomas de Vaux, "that your Grace finds the mule
a useful slave, though his voice be less musical than horse-hair
or wire."
"What, thou canst not yet digest that quip of the mule?" said
Richard. "Wash it down with a brimming flagon, man, or thou wilt
choke upon it. Why, so--well pulled!--and now I will tell thee,
thou art a soldier as well as I, and we must brook each other's
jests in the hall as each other's blows in the tourney, and love
each other the harder we hit. By my faith, if thou didst not hit
me as hard as I did thee in our late encounter! thou gavest all
thy wit to the thrust. But here lies the difference betwixt thee
and Blondel. Thou art but my comrade--I might say my pupil--in
the art of war; Blondel is my master in the science of minstrelsy
and music.
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