So loudly was it spoken, and so near was the young royal hero of England, that the answer came from his own lips.
"Not alone am I, Richard Neville, but I have outridden Wakeham to speed on and warn thee not to show thyself beyond the ridge, lest thou warn the warders of Bruyerre that we are at hand. Halt, thou and thine!"
"My Lord Prince Edward, we are halted, with that very thought in mind," respectfully answered Richard. "But is yonder place Bruyerre?"
"It is, indeed," said the prince. "'Tis a stronghold since the days of Norman Rollo. Duke Robert also was besieged there once."
"How, then, shall we take it?" came regretfully from Richard's lips. "It were not well to leave it untaken."
"That will we not," said the Prince, "and glad am I have to thee with me. For that end we sent thee ahead. Sir Henry and I had few enough of men, and they are mostly men-at-arms. We need thy Irish kerns,[A] and thy Welsh, and thy bowmen."
"Here they come, my Lord!" Guy the Bow announced from among the archers. "They all are riding hard as if for a charge."
A brave array of knights and gentlemen in full armor came fast through the dust clouds of their own raising. Beside the foremost horseman rode one who carried no arms at all. On his head was the plain cap of a tradesman, and from under it long white hair came down to his shoulders. He rode firmly despite his years, however, and there was a kind of eager light upon his deeply wrinkled face.
"All is well!" he exclaimed. "My Lord of Wakeham, the prince reached them in time, and they are halted."
"Aye, and I would there were more of them," replied Sir Henry. "Our own footmen are long miles behind, and the day is waning."