the keeper of which he knew to be an
unscrupulous and merciless man. This was done, and soon afterward it
was given out through all the kingdom that Arthur was dead. Every body
was convinced that John had caused him to be murdered. There were
several different rumors in respect to the way in which the deed was
done. One story was that John, being at Rouen, where Arthur was
imprisoned, after having become excited with the wine which he had
drunk at a carousal, went and killed Arthur himself with his own
hand, and that he then ordered his body to be thrown into the Seine,
with heavy stones tied to the feet to make it sink. The body, however,
afterward, they said, rose to the surface and floated to the shore,
where some monks found it, and buried it secretly in their abbey.

Another story was that John pretended to be reconciled to Arthur, and
took him out one day to ride with him, with other horsemen. Presently
John rode on with Arthur in advance of the party, until late in the
evening they came to a solitary place where there was a high cliff
overhanging the sea. Here John drew his sword, and, riding up to
Arthur, suddenly ran him through the body. Arthur cried aloud, and
begged for mercy as he fell from his horse to the ground; but John
dragged him to the edge of the precipice, and threw him over into the
sea while he was yet alive and breathing.

A third story was that John had determined that Arthur must die, and
that he came himself one night to the castle where Arthur was confined
in Rouen on the Seine. A man went up to Arthur's room, and, waking him
from his sleep, directed him to rise.

"Rise," said he, "and come with me."

Arthur rose, and followed his guard with fear and trembling. They
descended the staircase to the foot of the tower, where there was a
portal that opened close upon the river. On going out, Arthur found
that there was a boat there at the stairs, with his uncle and some
other men in it. Arthur at once understood what these things meant,
and was greatly terrified. He fell on his knees, and begged his uncle
to spare his life; but John gave a sign, and Arthur was stabbed, and
then taken out a little way and thrown into the river. Some say that
John killed him and threw him into the river with his own hand.

Which of these tales is true, if either of them is so, can now
probably never be known. All that is certain is that John in some way
or other caused Arthur to be murdered in order to remove