It was to this person, such as we have described him, that the Prince
addressed his imperious command to make place for Isaac and Rebecca.
Athelstane, utterly confounded at an order which the manners and
feelings of the times rendered so injuriously insulting, unwilling to
obey, yet undetermined how to resist, opposed only the "vis inertiae" to
the will of John; and, without stirring or making any motion whatever of
obedience, opened his large grey eyes, and stared at the Prince with
an astonishment which had in it something extremely ludicrous. But the
impatient John regarded it in no such light.
"The Saxon porker," he said, "is either asleep or minds me not--Prick
him with your lance, De Bracy," speaking to a knight who rode near him,
the leader of a band of Free Companions, or Condottieri; that is, of
mercenaries belonging to no particular nation, but attached for the time
to any prince by whom they were paid. There was a murmur even among the
attendants of Prince John; but De Bracy, whose profession freed him from
all scruples, extended his long lance over the space which separated
the gallery from the lists, and would have executed the commands of
the Prince before Athelstane the Unready had recovered presence of mind
sufficient even to draw back his person from the weapon, had not Cedric,
as prompt as his companion was tardy, unsheathed, with the speed of
lightning, the short sword which he wore, and at a single blow severed
the point of the lance from the handle. The blood rushed into the
countenance of Prince John. He swore one of his deepest oaths, and
was about to utter some threat corresponding in violence, when he was
diverted from his purpose, partly by his own attendants, who gathered
around him conjuring him to be patient, partly by a general exclamation
of the crowd, uttered in loud applause of the spirited conduct of
Cedric. The Prince rolled his eyes in indignation, as if to collect some
safe and easy victim; and chancing to encounter the firm glance of the
same archer whom we have already noticed, and who seemed to persist
in his gesture of applause, in spite of the frowning aspect which the
Prince bent upon him, he demanded his reason for clamouring thus.
"I always add my hollo," said the yeoman, "when I see a good shot, or a
gallant blow."
"Sayst thou?" answered the Prince; "then thou canst hit the white
thyself, I'll warrant."
"A woodsman's mark, and at woodsman's distance, I can hit," answered the
yeoman.