But Sir Toady Lion was neither among the slain, nor yet among the wounded or the captives. What then of Toady Lion?
CHAPTER XV
TOADY LION PLAYS A FIRST LONE HAND.
SIR Toady Lion had played a lone hand.
We left him sitting behind the hedge, secure as the gods above the turmoil of battle. But he could not be content to stay there. He thought of Richard Cœur-de-Lion, his great namesake and hero; and though he wanted to do nothing rash, he was resolved to justify the ginger-beer label Victoria Cross which he wore so proudly on his breast. So he waited till the forces of the town had swept those of Windy Standard from the field. He saw on the edge of the wood Hugh John, resisting manfully to the death, and striking out in all directions. But Toady Lion knew that he had no clear call to such very active exertions.