fastened them in. "Will you want a light sword
and battle-axe?"

"No," Cuthbert said, "my arms are pretty well used to those of the
men-at-arms. I could wield my father's sword, and that was a heavy one."

The lightest of the earl's weapons were chosen, and it was agreed that
all was now ready for the conflict to-morrow.

In the morning there was a slight bustle in the camp.

The news that a fight was to take place between an English and a Brabant
page, by the permission of the Kings of England and France, that their
Majesties were to be present, and that all was to be conducted on regular
rules, caused a stir of excitement and novelty in the camp.

Nowhere is life duller than among a large body of men kept together for
any time under canvas, and the thought of a combat of this novel kind
excited general interest.

In a meadow at a short distance from the camp, a body of King Richard's
men-at-arms marked off an oval space of about an acre. Upon one side of
this a tent was pitched for the kings, and a small tent was placed at
each end for the combatants. Round the enclosure the men-at-arms formed
the ring, and behind them a dense body of spectators gathered, a place
being set aside for nobles, and others of gentle blood.

At the hour fixed the Kings of England and France arrived together. King
Richard was evidently in a state of high good humour, for he preferred
the clash of arms and the sight of combat to any other pleasure.

The King of France, on the other hand, looked grave. He was a far wiser
and more politic king than Richard; and although he had consented to the
sudden proposal, yet he felt in his heart that the contest was a foolish
one, and that it might create bad feeling among the men of the two
nationalities whichever way it went. He had reserved to himself the right
of throwing down the baton when the combat was to cease, and he
determined to avail himself of this right, to put a stop to the conflict
before either party was likely to sustain any deadly injury.

When the monarchs had taken their places the trumpeters sounded their
trumpets, and the two combatants advanced on foot from their ends of the
lists. A murmur of surprise and dissatisfaction broke from the crowd.

"My Lord of Evesham," the king said angrily to the earl, who with Count
Jacquelin was standing by the royal party, "thou shouldst have said that
the difference between the two was too great to allow the combat to be
possible. The