John was following up his advantage to make a captive of the lady,
when he was suddenly felled to the earth by an unseen antagonist.
Some of his men picked him carefully up, and conveyed him to his tent,
stunned and stupified.
When he recovered, he found Harpiton diligently assisting in his recovery,
more in the fear of losing his place than in that of losing his master:
the prince's first inquiry was for the prisoner he had been on the point
of taking at the moment when his habeas corpus was so unseasonably suspended.
He was told that his people had been on the point of securing the said
prisoner, when the devil suddenly appeared among them in the likeness
of a tall friar, having his grey frock cinctured with a sword-belt,
and his crown, which whether it were shaven or no they could not see,
surmounted with a helmet, and flourishing an eight-foot staff,
with which he laid about him to the right and to the left, knocking down
the prince and his men as if they had been so many nine-pins: in fine,
he had rescued the prisoner, and made a clear passage through friend and foe,
and in conjunction with a chosen party of archers, had covered the retreat
of the baron's men and the foresters, who had all gone off in a body
towards Sherwood forest.
Harpiton suggested that it would be desirable to sack the castle,
and volunteered to lead the van on the occasion, as the defenders were
withdrawn, and the exploit seemed to promise much profit and little danger:
John considered that the castle would in itself be a great acquisition to him,
as a stronghold in furtherance of his design on his brother's throne;
and was determining to take possession with the first light of morning,
when he had the mortification to see the castle burst into flames in several
places at once.
Pages:
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91