Nothing could be gayer than the aspect of this camp as the party rode
into it. They were rather late, and the great body of the host were
already assembled.
Cuthbert gazed with delight at the varied colors, the gay dresses, the
martial knights, and the air of discipline and order which reigned
everywhere.
This was indeed war in its most picturesque form, a form which, as far
as beauty is concerned, has been altogether altered, and indeed
destroyed, by modern arms.
In those days individual prowess and bravery went for everything. A
handful of armored knights were a match for thousands of footmen, and
battles were decided as much by the prowess and bravery of the leader
and his immediate following as by that of the great mass of the army.
The earl had the day before sent on a messenger to state that he was
coming, and as the party entered the camp they were met by a squire of
the camp-marshal, who conducted them to the position allotted to them.
The earl's tent was soon erected, with four or five grouped around it
for his knights, one being set aside for his squires and pages.
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