sel, barbed and caparisoned, some five score horses; and, finally,
the sailors and rowers, armed but with steel caps and short swords, came
on shore, till not a man was left on board.

"Now praise," said the chief knight, "to God and Saint George that we
have escaped the water! and not with invisible winds but with bodily
foes must our war be waged."

"Beau sire," cried one knight, who had debarked immediately after the
speaker, and who seemed, from his bearing and equipment, of higher rank
than those that followed, "beau sire, this is a slight army to reconquer
a king's realm! Pray Heaven that our bold companions have also escaped
the deep!"

"Why, verily, we are not eno' at the best, to spare one man," said the
chief knight, gayly, "but, lo! we are not without welcomers." And he
pointed to the crowd of villagers who now slowly neared the warlike
group, but halting at a little distance, continued to gaze at them in
some anxiety and alarm.

"Ho there! good fellows!" cried the leader, striding towards the throng,
"what name give you to this village?"

"Ravenspur, please your worship," answered one of the peasants.

"Ravenspur, hear you that, lords and friends? Accept the omen! On this
spot landed from exile Henry of Bolingbroke, known afterwards in our
annals as King Henry IV.! Bare is the soil of corn and of trees,--it
disdains meaner fruit; it grows kings! Hark!" The sound of a bugle was
heard at a little distance, and in a few moments a troop of about a
hundred men were seen rising above an undulation in the ground, and
as the two bands recognized each other, a shout of joy was given and
returned.

As this new reinforcement advanced, the peasantry and fishermen,
attracted by curiosity and encouraged by the peaceable demeanour of the
debarkers, drew nearer, and mingled with the first comers.

"What manner of men be ye, and what want ye?" asked one of the
bystanders, who seemed of better nurturing than the rest, and who,
indeed, was a small franklin.

No answer was returned by those he more immediately addressed; but the
chief knight heard the question, and suddenly unbuckling his helmet,
and giving it to one of those beside him, he turned to the crowd a
countenance of singular beauty at once animated and majestic, and said
in a loud voice, "We are Englishmen, like you, and we come here to claim
our rights. Ye seem tall fellows and honest.--Standard bearer, unfurl
our flag!" And as the ensign suddenly display