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Page 414
forage than in the terrain. That was an interesting piece of information; it might mean that Gloucester had not been very generous with provender. The men beholden to Gloucester could not be open rebels; their youthful overlord was now with his stepfather, Richard of Cornwall, and his motherwho was Pembroke's sister. They could, however, do their best not to help, by concealing their stock, by pleading the effect of a murrain or a bad harvest. They could also say that Henry had already levied on them in August, and they had no more to give.
If that was true, the king's army was already short of supplies. Henry could not, then, strike due west because he already knew that Usk and the surrounding area was naked as a newborn babe. But the scouts would tell him that there was nothing around Hereford either. It could mean that Henry would do nothing until supplies could be gathered from England. That did not please Simon, and he turned restlessly and then rerolled himself in his blanket and cloak. As warmth seeped into him, he smiled. Henry was in a terrible rage, and patience had never been one of his virtues, even when he was not angry.
On that pleasant thought Simon slept. He woke easily at a touch some hours later. The troop ate pressed cakes of flaked, dried meat, dried fruit, and meal, passed around a small wineskin that one of the men had been carrying, and set out again. They found the army before dawn. Henry's force was camped amid the burned-out farms midway between Gloucester and Hereford. As the sun came up, the army began to stir. Simon and his men squatted in the cover of a grove of trees and watched, finishing their sleep by turns.
The sights and sounds were familiar: men waking each other, crying out for one reason or another, cooking pots clanging, grooms shouting and cursing at their charges as they fed them or prepared to lead them to water. After a while, the camp quieted somewhat

 
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