"Nothing like a funeral," said Toney, who had applied an opera-glass to his eye.
"What can it be?" asked Rosabel.
"A triumphal procession in honor of Richard Plantagenet," said Toney. "The governor and his staff are conducting him back to the town. Richard's chariot is driven by an Ethiopian, and another African is leading his white charger, which seems much exhausted."
"I do wonder what made those horses run away with the knights?" said Rosabel.
"We have made the discovery," said the widow, coming on the porch in company with the Professor. "It was just as I had predicted. That Barney Bates was at the bottom of the mischief."
"What did he do?" asked Rosabel.
"Why," said the Professor, "in anticipation of the tournament, Barney had procured pieces of leather perforated by a number of long and sharp tacks, the points of which were carefully covered by other pieces of thinner leather, so arranged that it required the weight of the rider to cause the tacks to pierce through. Bates had seduced the other boys from their allegiance to their respective knights, and under each saddle was one of these cruel instruments of torture, ready to give the steed great agony as soon as the valiant knight had mounted."
"And that caused the horses to kick up and run off?" said Ida.
"That was undoubtedly the cause of their extraordinary excitement," said the Professor.
"I wonder what has become of Love?" said Ida.