Prince John made a signal that some attendants should follow him in

case of his escape: but the cry of "Shame! shame!" which burst from the

multitude, induced him to alter his ungenerous purpose.

Locksley returned almost instantly with a willow wand about six feet in

length, perfectly straight, and rather thicker than a man's thumb. He

began to peel this with great composure, observing at the same time,

that to ask a good woodsman to shoot at a target so broad as had

hitherto been used, was to put shame upon his skill. "For his own part,"

he said, "and in the land where he was bred, men would as soon take for

their mark King Arthur's round-table, which held sixty knights around

it. A child of seven years old," he said, "might hit yonder target with

a headless shaft; but," added he, walking deliberately to the other end

of the lists, and sticking the willow wand upright in the ground, "he

that hits that rod at five-score yards, I call him an archer fit to bear

both bow and quiver before a king, an it were the stout King Richard

himself."

"My grandsire," said Hubert, "drew a good bow at the battle of Hastings,

and never shot at such a mark in his life--and neither will I. If this

yeoman can cleave that rod, I give him the bucklers--or rather, I yield

to the devil that is in his jerkin, and not to any human skill; a man

can but do his best, and I will not shoot where I am sure to miss. I

might as well shoot at the edge of our parson's whittle, or at a wheat

straw, or at a sunbeam, as at a twinkling white streak which I can

hardly see."

"Cowardly dog!" said Prince John.--"Sirrah Locksley, do thou shoot; but,

if thou hittest such a mark, I will say thou art the first man ever

did so. However it be, thou shalt not crow over us with a mere show of

superior skill."

"I will do my best, as Hubert says," answered Locksley; "no man can do

more."

So saying, he again bent his bow, but on the present occasion looked

with attention to his weapon, and changed the string, which he thought

was no longer truly round, having been a little frayed by the two former

shots. He then took his aim with some deliberation, and the multitude

awaited the event in breathless silence. The archer vindicated their

opinion of his skill: his arrow split the willow rod against which it

was aimed. A jubilee of acclamations followed; and even Prince John, in

admiration of Locksley's skill, lost for an instant his dislike to his

person. "These twenty nobles," he said, "which, with the bugle, thou

hast fairly won, are thine own; we will make them fifty, if thou wilt

take livery and service with us as a yeoman of our body guard, and be

near to our person. For never did so strong a hand bend a bow, or so

true an eye direct a shaft."




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024