“Friend,” he said, standing between him and the bed, so that he could see nothing, “what was it that just now I told you was in my mind when yonder Murgh asked me at what target he should shoot with my bow on the Place of Arms?”
“A knight’s helm,” answered David, “which stood in the window of your room at the ambassador’s house—a knight’s helmet that had a swan for its crest.”
“You hear?” said Dick to Hugh; “now come, both of you, and see. What is that which hangs upon the bed-post? Answer you, David, for perchance my sight is bewitched.”
“A knight’s helm,” answered David, “bearing the crest of a floating swan and held there by an arrow which has pierced it through.”
“What was the arrow like which I gave this night to one Murgh, master?” asked Dick again.
“It was a war shaft having two black feathers and the third white but chequered with four black spots and a smear of brown,” answered Hugh.
“Then is that the same arrow, master, which this Murgh loosed from more than a mile away?”
Hugh examined it with care. Thrice he examined it, point and shaft and feathers. Then in a low voice he answered:
“Yes!”