Meanwhile the whole
van of the army came up, many thousands of men-at-arms and knights, and
footmen, and after them the gorgeous train of ladies, careless and gay,
feeling themselves safe among so many armed men, and desiring a sight
of the enemy rather than fearing it. There was little order in the
march, and hitherto there had been little danger; for the Seljuks meant
to destroy them in the mountains, and would never have tried battle in
the open with such a great host.
Still the troop came on, filling the valley from side to side, and
pressing up by sheer numbers toward the pass; and the King came at
last, and with him certain Greek guides to whom he listened, and who
began to make a great outcry, saying that Sir Gilbert was a madman and
that no horses could climb the ridge. Thereat Gilbert's men swore that
they had climbed it on the preceding day, and that even a woman could
ride up it. And one of the Greeks began to laugh at them, saying that
they lied; so Sir Gaston de Castignac smote him on the mouth with his
mailed hand, breaking all his teeth, and there was a turmoil, and the
people began to take opposite sides, for many of the King's men had
come up, and he himself was for the easy way up the valley.
Then Eleanor was very angry, and she mounted again, calling Gilbert's
men to her side, and her own knights who rode in the van, and she told
the King to his face that the Guide of Aquitaine had ever led them
safely, but that whenever the army had followed the King's guides, evil
had befallen.
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