They met not without difficulty.[589] The roads were dangerous.

At every corner travellers might be robbed or murdered.

The officers, who journeyed from town to town collecting the taxes, had an armed escort for fear of the Scots and other men-at-arms in the King's service.[590] [Footnote 588: _Taille_, so called from a notched stick (Eng.

tally), used by the tax-collector, the number of notches indicating the amount of the tax due.

There were two _tailles_: _la taille seigneuriale_, a contribution paid by serfs to their lord; and _la taille royale_, paid by the third estate to the King.