Here and there,
as he passed, when a tent was open, he saw knights kneeling in prayer,
and could hear them reciting the litanies. But it was not always so,
for some were spending the night in feasting, their tents being closed,
though one could hear plainly the revelry. There was more than one
great tent in the French lines, of which the curtain was raised a
little, and there Gilbert saw men and women drinking together, under
bright lights, and he saw that the women were Greeks and that their
cheeks were painted and their eyelids blackened; and he turned away
from the sight, in disgust that such things should be done on the Holy
Eve of Christmas.
Further on, some very poor soldiers, in sheepskin doublets and leathern
hose, were kneeling together before a sort of rough screen, on which
were hung images painted in the manner of Greek eikons. These men had
long and silky beards, and their smooth brown hair hung out over their
shoulders in well-combed waves, and some of them had beautiful faces.
One, who was a priest of their own, stood upright and recited prayers
in a low chant, and from time to time, at the refrain, the soldiers all
bowed themselves till their foreheads touched the ground.
"The Lord Jesus Christ be praised," sang the priest.
"To all ages. Amen," responded the soldiers.
Though they sang in the Bohemian language, and Gilbert could not
understand, he saw that they believed and were of an earnest mind.
So he walked about for more than an hour, looking and listening, and
his own sad humour was lightened a little as he forgot to think of
himself only.
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