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withdrawn, and the exploit seemed to promise much profit and little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. A piteous cry was heard from
within, and while the prince was proclaiming a reward to any one who
would enter into the burning pile, and elucidate the mystery of the
doleful voice, forth waddled the little fat friar in an agony of fear,
out of the fire into the frying-pan; for he was instantly taken into
custody and carried before Prince John, wringing his hands and tearing
his hair.

"Are you the friar," said Prince John, in a terrible voice, "that
laid me prostrate in battle, mowed down my men like grass, rescued my
captive, and covered the retreat of my enemies? And, not content with
this, have you now set fire to the castle in which I intended to take up
my royal quarters?"

The little friar quaked like a jelly: he fell on his knees, and
attempted to speak; but in his eagerness to vindicate himself from this
accumulation of alarming charges, he knew not where to begin; his ideas
rolled round upon each other like the radii of a wheel; the words he
desired to utter, instead of issuing, as it were, in a right line from
his lips, seemed to conglobate themselves into a sphere turning on its
own axis in his throat: after several ineffectual efforts, his utterance
totally failed him, and he remained gasping, with his mouth open, his
lips quivering, his hands clasped together, and the whites of his eyes
turned up towards the prince with an expression most ruefully imploring.

"Are you that friar?" repeated the prince.

Several of the by-standers declared that he was not that friar. The
little friar, encouraged by this patronage, found his voice, and pleaded
for mercy. The prince questioned him closely concerning the burning of
the castle. The little friar declared, that he had been in too great
fear during the siege to know much of what was going forward, except
that he had been conscious during the last few days o