"I'll have naught of sup now, Zenas," the young knight said. "But keep it warm ... mayhap later I'll be an hungered."
Downing a goblet of canary, to calm his shaking inwards, the young knight went outside. Ordering his stallion instantly to be made ready, he galloped madly then against the face of the rising sun, hoping in this manner to cool his heated temples.
The light air coming into his nostrils, the swift moving against the wind, made him soon feel like a puffed giant upon a pigmy land; an enchanted prince upon a magic road.
Sir Richard must have ridden after this fashion something above two leagues. Then he came suddenly within sight of the sea, which rolled vast above him, like a shimmering green curtain hanging pendant from the sky. Hull down on the vague horizon, he saw a ship that seemed to be making from the coast.
Upon the beach there remained less than a score of tents to mark the encampment of an armed host. One after another, as he looked, they were sinking between the white sand dunes. Black spots, reminding him much of scurrying sand-crabs, were moving hurriedly in and about them.
The young knight rode down to meet a solitary horseman approaching along the road. Presently, by the red cross flaming out of a white tunic, he made out that it was Lord Bishop Kennedy. "Give thee a good-morrow, sire," the Bishop called out to Sir Richard as they drew within hailing distance. "Thou art early abroad, I see?"
The young knight returned his salutation and made answer: "Yes."
"Our forces here," pursued Kennedy, as Sir Richard wheeled and rode beside him, "are now withdrawing for the purpose of massing above the forest. In a fortnight Sir James will belike be able to sit horse; whereupon we shall at once begin our march southward. After to-night, but a pile of charred timbers will remain to tell the tale of the Red Tavern. And right happy am I withal that the enterprise doth draw to a point of focus. 'Twill mark the end of intrigue, jealousy, and treachery; the beginning of war-like action."
Conversing in this wise, they drew, at length, within sight of the doomed tavern. The young knight glanced upward as he rode toward the door and saw Rocelia flash away from the window as she observed that Sir Richard was not riding alone. A wave of ineffable emotion surged over him as he divined that she had been awaiting his return. It seemed an age before Harold came to relieve him of his horse.
When he came inside Sir Richard saw that the table was as he had left it.