The scene was a very gay one.

The banners of the nobles and knights floated from the lofty poops, and the sun shone on bright armour and steel weapons.

Walter, who had never seen the sea before, was delighted.

The wind was fair, and the vessels glided smoothly along over the sea.

At evening the knight and his four young companions gathered in the little cabin, for it was in the first week in March, and the night was cold.
"Will you please tell me, Sir John," Walter said to the knight, "the merits of this quarrel in which we are going to fight?
I know that we are going in aid of the Countess of Montford; but why she is in a sore strait I know not." "The matter is a mixed one, Walter, and it requires a herald to tell you all the subtleties of it.