Part 23 (1/2)
And about four dozen young ladies fro heard that there would soon be three dozen new knights and most of them bachelors It seemed that everyone but the hted, but that's the way things usually go I wanted to keep it froreater eraduation cerele sounded reveille and in a few round A priest said a very short mass, without a sermon, and the band played Copland's ”Fanfare for the Cohts that had trained them and I recited the Warrior's Oath and the Warrior's Code before the asseuests
I announced the orders of the day ot some smiles Usually I wasYou notice that we have visitors today They are here to observe our training o about the routines in the nor you, since I'd hate to have to wash you out at this point in the ga run in full ar and an hour of swords After dinner there will be an hour of wagon-and- gunnery practice”
”You will then have the rest of the afternoon off, but be sure to go to Confession You'll have to be in a state of grace to entle to walk on fire After that ill be up all night long, perforet some rest this afternoon Be back here in a quarter hour in full arot, our ”hour” being twice as long as thethe the obstacle course
Count Lambert came up and said, ”It's hard to believe that those o”
”Yes, ,” Prince Henryk said, ”but what does this standing in neat lines have to do with defeating the Mongols”
”That's difficult to explain, ram that makes these men the finest foot soldiers in the world I've invited you here today to show you what these ood spot on the obstacle course”
I'd arranged for a dozen guides to take the bulk of the visitors around, but I wanted to escort the VIPs myself It was not only necessary to build the finest army in the world, it was also necessary for the powers that be to know that it was as good as I said it was
We stopped at the firstsuspended fifteen stories up between two big denuded pine trees Four ropes went froround
”They're not going to cli his new gold ar their aro over the top and then back down the other side,” I said
”Have you done this yourself?” Prince Henryk asked
”Of course, h the course”
”I wonder if I could do that,” Count Lambert said
”I' But for today, I must ask you to observe only, and not participate”
”That verges on impertinence!” Count Lambert said
”Perhaps, my lord, but we all know your abilities This demonstration is to show you what the men can do”
Count Lambert started to make further objection, but Prince Henryk put his hand on the count's armored forearm
”It shall be as you say, Baron Conrad,” the prince said, and that ended thein step up the trail, their ar loudly They were four files wide and ten ranks long, and singing the ar sounds familiar,” Prince Henryk said
”The tune is an old Russian folk song called 'Meadowlands,' lish poet naether”
The first rank went immediately to the four front ropes and went quickly up, their ar stiff below the jacks until the first four were halfway up, at which time the next four
”One of the rules of the course is that thetheir turn, or waiting for the others to finish, they exercise in place,” I said
Abbot Ignacy ht
”That man on the left, near the top,” Prince Henryk said ”That's Sir Vladimir, isn't it?”
”Yes, my lord He and the three Banki brothers beside hi”
”And that little one at the end who's ju up and down, is that your accountant, Piotr Kulczynski?”
”Yes, er Once his training is over, I have another job for hi up a section of mapols invade, we'll have accurate reat use to et to work on that engine you proine once your people built a two-lider that could stay up for hours,about it, because we're close, Baron Conrad, dao to the next obstacle” I'd gone along with helping out with Eagle Nest, Count Laood way to set up an engineering institute at Count Lambert's expense I never for aaircraft in under twenty years They were starting to build soot to an alhtly ahead of the troops, who ca in step The first four started cli immediately while the others did pushups
”They move up like ants after ajar of honey!” Count Lambert said
”Very deadly ants, nacy asked
”Training, Father, plus the fact that they have climbed this particular cliff so often that they knohere most of the handholds are”
Soon, all of thethe top Off to the right, a long slack rope went from a pole on the top of the cliff to another four hundred yards away on the ground The arrangement was such that it was necessary to jump from the cliff in order to catch the rope The first man up, Sir Vladimir, I was pleased to note, ran ie as the crowd gasped in horror But he caught the rope and slid down to the ground to be followed by the others
”Doesn't that bum their hands?” Prince Henryk asked
”No,it with their hands, but have caught the rope with the cuffs of their gauntlets The rope is waxed and things don't get too warm”
”But what if they should slip and fall?”
”They generally die,on ropes, ran across long bridges that were as narrow as your ar else nasty that I could think up
”When they're in full ar events, since it takes a few days to dry out their gambezons,” I said ”But rest assured that each of these men can swim a half mile in full armor-and six miles naked”
Despite the fact that ere on horseback, the men beat us back to the mess hall The VIPs were invited inside and the rest of the croas fed outside
Each of the s, a loaf of bread, and a slab of haer, and went on fro
”You certainly feed thenacy said
”True, Father, but we buh You won't find much fat on any of these men”