"Then I'll go with thee to help find it," de Claverlok said, wriggling up the great pile of hay behind the boy.
While they were both down on their hands and knees digging, Sir Richard quickly unbuckled the grizzled knight's saddle and set it upon the back of his own horse.
"Have you found it, my friend?" he called, when he had made de Claverlok's strap secure.
"Nay—not yet. Have patience, Sir Dick," called the grizzled knight without stopping to look behind him.
"Then," laughed Sir Richard triumphantly, "being in sore haste to get away, I've e'en borrowed thine. Thou canst follow later, sir knight. Adieu to you—adieu!"
"Fie—Sir Dick!" shouted de Claverlok, starting up red-faced and sliding down the steep side of the hay; "I pray you, be not in such an undue haste. Wait! You are leaving with the mark of a powdered hand upon your shoulder-cape. Hold, I say! Let me brush it from you, boy!"
The young knight was safe upon the highway before de Claverlok got clear of the hay.
"An I have the mark of the scullery-maid upon my shoulder," he called back, "I have also the knowledge of the true distance of Castle Yewe beneath my bonnet. Give you a round good-day, de Claverlok," he added, laughing gaily, and with that pelted off down the road at top speed.
He had a fine view of the Stag and Hounds from the crest of the next hill, and saw his companion swing into his saddle and follow after him at a great pace, with the lost girth strapped securely about his horse's belly. The race was now on in grim earnest, and the young knight was resolved, at any hazard, to hold fast to the advantage he had gained.
The breadth of the hill intervening, he lost sight of de Claverlok for a little space. But he had another view of him when his pursuer rode over its summit. The grizzled knight was shouting a string of words that, because of the roaring of the wind in his ears and the pounding of his horse's hoofs, he could not at all make out, and waving his long arms about in the most frantic manner. The young knight was enjoying the situation to the marrow. It was worth everything to him merely to have outwitted the crafty veteran.