n past, when Tyril shot his arrow, bidden, as tradition says, by the
king "in the devil's name." The arrow struck William Rufus full in the
chest, and he dropped lifeless. Tyril, putting spurs to his horse,
galloped westward to a ford across the Avon into Dorsetshire. Soon after
a charcoal-burner named Purkis, whose descendants still live in the New
Forest, came past, found the king's body, and, placing it on his cart,
bore it, still bleeding, to Winchester. Tyril's arrow had glanced from a
tree, which long existed, but, decaying centuries afterward, Rufus's
Stone was set up to mark the spot. This became mutilated, and has been
enclosed in an iron casing, with copies of the original inscriptions on
the outside. It is now a cast-iron pillar about five feet high, with a
grating at the top, through which may be seen the stone within. It
stands on a gentle slope, not quite at the bottom of the valley, with
pretty scenery around. Tyril got his horse shod at the Avon ford, for
which offence the blacksmith afterwards paid an annual fine to the
Crown. He was not very hotly pursued, however, and made his escape into
Normandy, where he sturdily denied that the arrow was shot by him at
all, laying the blame to a conspiracy of the king's enemies, of whom he
had many.

Southward from Lyndhurst the road goes over undulating ground and
through magnificent oaks and beeches to Brockenhurst, past a heronry at
Vinney Ridge. This section contains some of the finest trees in the
forest, with plenty of dense holly and an occasional yew. The ground
discloses the bracken fern, and gray lichen clings thickly to the trunks
and branches of the trees. The woodland views along this road are
splendid, and only need the wild animals of a former era to bring back
the forest-life of mediaeval times. Off to the eastward, standing on the
little river Exe, are the foliage-clad ruins of Beaulieu Abbey, founded
by King John, and now held by the Duke of Buccleuch, who has a mansion
near by. Here was buried John's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and here
came the widow of Warwick the King-maker, after the battle of Barnet,
for sanctuary. Perkin Warbeck when defeated also took refuge at
Beaulieu, where he surrendered on promise of mercy. The abbey is a wreck
now, for after its dissolution we are told that its stones "went to
build Henry VIII.'s martello tower at Hurst, and its lead to repair
Calshot" on Southampton Water, while the gate-house serves as the
entra