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The troopers into whose hands I had fallen were some twelve or fourteen in number, all of them sturdy fellows of the same type that I had seen so much of on the previous day. They were well mounted on strong serviceable horses, and had evidently been into the outlying villages in pursuit of fodder, for each man had a bundle of hay hanging from his saddle, while behind them came a peasant leading a load of straw, which was guarded on either side by more troopers. " 'Tis rather hard treatment, masters," I said when they told me that I must go with them as a prisoner, "that you should thus arrest me who am going home to my farm twenty miles away with no other thought than of getting my harvest. Surely you do not war with peaceable folk."
"No, marry," said one who rode by my side, "you are right there, and it would best please us not to war with anyone. But if I mistake not, friend, you yourself were fighting yesterday at Marston field. A man of your inches is not easily lost sight of nor forgotten."