And when the fresh knights they were made,
To battell they buske[1031] them bowne[1032];
Jamès Douglas he went before,
And he thought to have wonnen him shoone.
XXVII
But they were mett in a morning of May
With the comminaltye of litle England;
But there scapèd never a man away,
Through the might of Christès hand.
XXVIII
But all onely Jamès Douglas;
In Durham in the ffeild
An arrow stroke him in the thye;
Fast flinges he towards the King.
XXIX
The King looked toward litle Durham,
Saies, ‘All things is not weel!
For James Douglas beares an arrow in his thye,
The head of it is of steele.
XXX
‘How now, James?’ then said the King,
‘How now, how may this bee?
And where beene all thy merrymen
That thou tooke hence with thee?’