first front of battle, still the last to sleep. He will go far, will

Crookback Dick o' Gloucester!"

The young knight, if he had before been brave and vigilant, was now all

the more inclined to watchfulness and courage. His sudden favour, he

began to perceive, had brought perils in its train. And he turned from

the archer, and once more scanned anxiously the market-place. It lay

empty as before.

"I like not this quietude," he said. "Doubtless they prepare us some

surprise."

And, as if in answer to his remark, the archers began once more to

advance against the barricade, and the arrows to fall thick. But there

was something hesitating in the attack. They came not on roundly, but

seemed rather to await a further signal.

Dick looked uneasily about him, spying for a hidden danger. And sure

enough, about half way up the little street, a door was suddenly opened

from within, and the house continued, for some seconds, and both by door

and window, to disgorge a torrent of Lancastrian archers. These, as they

leaped down, hurriedly stood to their ranks, bent their bows, and

proceeded to pour upon Dick's rear a flight of arrows.

At the same time, the assailants in the market-place redoubled their

shot, and began to close in stoutly upon the barricade.

The Black Arrow