A boy's life is of a very flexible sort. It takes but a littlewhile for it to shape itself to any new surroundings in which itmay be thrown, to make itself new friends, to settle itself tonew habits; and so it was that Myles fell directly into the waysof the lads of Devlen. On his first morning, as he washed hisface and hands with the other squires and pages in a great tankof water in the armory court-yard, he presently found himselfsplashing and dashing with the others, laughing and shouting asloud as any, and calling some by their Christian names as thoughhe had known them for years instead of overnight. During chapelhe watched with sympathetic delight the covert pranks of theyoungsters during the half-hour that Father Emmanuel droned hisLatin, and with his dagger point he carved his own name among themany cut deep into the back of the bench before him. When, afterbreakfast, the squires poured like school-boys into the greatarmory to answer to the roll-call for daily exercise, he camestorming in with the rest, beating the lad in front of him withhis cap.
Boys are very keen to feel the influence of a forceful character.
A lad with a strong will is quick to reach his proper level as agreater or lesser leader among the others, and Myles was of justthe masterful nature to make his individuality felt among theDevlen squires. He was quick enough to yield obedience upon alloccasions to proper authority, but would never bend an inch tothe usurpation of tyranny. In the school at St. Mary's Priory atCrosbey-Dale he would submit without a murmur or offer ofresistance to chastisement by old Father Ambrose, the regularteacher; but once, when the fat old monk was sick, and a greatlong-legged strapping young friar, who had temporarily taken hisplace, undertook to administer punishment, Myles, with awrestling trip, flung him sprawling backward over a bench intothe midst of a shoal of small boys amid a hubbub of riotousconfusion. He had been flogged soundly for it under thesupervision of Prior Edward himself; but so soon as hispunishment was over, he assured the prior very seriously thatshould like occasion again happen he would act in the samemanner, flogging or no flogging.
It was this bold, outspoken spirit that gained him at oncefriends and enemies at Devlen, and though it first showed itselfin what was but a little matter, nevertheless it set a mark uponhim that singled him out from the rest, and, although he did notsuspect it at the time, called to him the attention of Sir JamesLee himself, who regarded him as a lad of free and frank spirit.
The first morning after the roll-call in the armory, as WalterBlunt, the head bachelor, rolled up the slip of parchment, andthe temporary silence burst forth into redoubled noise andconfusion, each lad arming himself from a row of racks that stoodalong the wall, he beckoned Myles to him.
"My Lord himself hath spoken to Sir James Lee concerning thee,"said he. "Sir James maintaineth that he will not enter thee intothe body till thou hast first practised for a while at the pels,and shown what thou canst do at broadsword. Hast ever fought atthe pel?""Aye," answered Myles, "and that every day of my life sin Ibecame esquire four years ago, saving only Sundays and holydays.""With shield and broadsword?"
