I can shoot three hundred and fifty paces with my little popper there, and four hundred and twenty with the great war-bow; yet I can make nothing of this, nor read my own name if you were to set 'Sam Aylward' up against me.

In the whole Company there was only one man who could read, and he fell down a well at the taking of Ventadour, which proves what the thing is not suited to a soldier, though most needful to a clerk." "I can make some show at it," said big John; "though I was scarce long enough among the monks to catch the whole trick of it.
"Here, then, is something to try upon," quoth the archer, pulling a square of parchment from the inside of his tunic.

It was tied securely with a broad band of purple silk, and firmly sealed at either end with a large red seal.

John pored long and earnestly over the inscription upon the back, with his brows bent as one who bears up against great mental strain.
"Not having read much of late," he said, "I am loth to say too much about what this may be.

Some might say one thing and some another, just as one bowman loves the yew, and a second will not shoot save with the ash.