ng happened that had happened before. The sword would not
budge for any one but Arthur, and a great many people began to be
convinced that he was the rightful King. There were enough dissatisfied
persons, however, to make one more trial necessary, and the Archbishop,
yielding to these, set one more date, that of Easter, for the final
contest."

"He had to earn it, didn't he," said Mollie.

"You bet he did," said Jack. "It must have been like our medals at
school. You've got to win it six times in succession, once every month,
before it's yours for keeps."

"But you know about that rule before you begin," said Mollie. "It's fair
enough in school, but it seems to me Arthur won it at the start, and
ought to have had it."

"He certainly did win it at the start, under the terms of the contest,"
said her father. "Still it was just as well, under the circumstances,
that there should be no dissatisfaction among those who lost, and as it
wasn't at all hard for Arthur to pull the sword out, he couldn't
complain. The others had to work a great deal harder than he did, and,
in the end, got nothing for their pains."

"I guess the Archbishop kind of liked to see all those people pulling
and hauling at it," suggested Jack, with a grin. "It must have been
something like a circus for him, anyhow, with all those knights in their
fine spangles, and their horses with splendid harness, and all that."

[Illustration: THEY ALL KNELT BEFORE HIM, AND HE WAS CROWNED.]

"Very likely," said the Story-teller. "That view of it never occurred to
me before. It has always been a matter of wonder to me that the
Archbishop made poor Arthur go through the ordeal so many times, but now
I begin to understand it. He wanted to be entertained as much as anybody
else, and very possibly he ordered so many repetitions of the
performances to that end, knowing, of course, that by so doing he could
not injure Arthur's chances. Arthur had to be very careful of himself,
however, between times. The other Knights were too anxious for the prize
to stop at playing tricks on him, and Sir Ector saw to it that wherever
he went he had a strong guard about him to keep him from harm. These
guards, made up of the most faithful men in his father's service, kept
watch over him night and day until Easter, when the final trial came off
with no change in the result. Arthur pulled the sword lightly out of the
stone, but despite their struggles the others could do nothing with i