"'Tis well. Now concerning Harry of Monmouth?"
"I know of a surety that he journeys to Waltham four days hence."
"Then he must pass——?"
"Through Stoneham and Durley."
"Of that thou art certain?"
"Nay, talk not of death," replied Lord Scrope with a superstitious shudder. "Wilt thou bring thy five lances to the cross-roads at Horton Heath—thou knowest the place where the lane opens out beyond the pine-trees?—then with my fifteen and the Earl's score of mounted men we can easily make an onfall upon this base usurper."
"'Tis not to be a spear-running to find favour in the eyes of our ladies," observed Sir Thomas Grey. "If we can bring the wolf to earth without scath to ourselves 'tis to be preferred. Therefore I propose to line the hedge with cross-bowmen, shoot down the King and as many of his retinue as possible, and put the rest to the sword."
"And then——?"
"The rest is easy. We must needs make our way north as quietly as we are able. The Earl of Cambridge will, in the ordinary course of events, proclaim the Earl of March, and with this puppet wearing the regal purple our future—by the powers of darkness, what is that?"