"Thinkest thou to learn all of knightly prowess in a year and a half?
Wait until thou art ripe, and then I will tell thee if thou art fit to
couch a lance or ride a course with a right knight."
"Thou art an old bear!" muttered Myles to himself, as the old one-eyed
knight turned on his heel and strode away. "Beshrew me! an I show thee
not that I am as worthy to couch a lance as thou one of these fine
days!"
However, during the last of the three years the grinding routine of his
training had not been quite so severe as at first. His exercises took
him more often out into the fields, and it was during this time of his
knightly education that he sometimes rode against some of the castle
knights in friendly battle with sword or lance or wooden mace. In these
encounters he always held his own; and held it more than well, though,
in his boyish simplicity, he was altogether unconscious of his own
skill, address, and strength. Perhaps it was his very honest modesty
that made him so popular and so heartily liked by all.
He had by this time risen to the place of head squire or chief bachelor,
holding the same position that Walter Blunt had occupied when he himself
had first come, a raw country boy, to Devlen. The lesser squires
and pages fairly worshipped him as a hero, albeit imposing upon his
good-nature. All took a pride in his practice in knightly exercises, and
fabulous tales were current among the young fry concerning his strength
and skill.
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