eaming silken pennants of red and
blue and green and white. As yet the King and Queen had not come, but
all the other benches were full of people, rising head above head high
aloft till it made the eye dizzy to look upon them. Eightscore yards
distant from the mark from which the archers were to shoot stood ten
fair targets, each target marked by a flag of the color belonging to the
band that was to shoot thereat. So all was ready for the coming of the
King and Queen.

At last a great blast of bugles sounded, and into the meadow came riding
six trumpeters with silver trumpets, from which hung velvet banners
heavy with rich workings of silver and gold thread. Behind these came
stout King Henry upon a dapple-gray stallion, with his Queen beside him
upon a milk-white palfrey. On either side of them walked the yeomen of
the guard, the bright sunlight flashing from the polished blades of
the steel halberds they carried. Behind these came the Court in a great
crowd, so that presently all the lawn was alive with bright colors, with
silk and velvet, with waving plumes and gleaming gold, with flashing
jewels and sword hilts; a gallant sight on that bright summer day.

Then all the people arose and shouted, so that their voices sounded like
the storm upon the Cornish coast, when the dark waves run upon the shore
and leap and break, surging amid the rocks; so, amid the roaring and the
surging of the people, and the waving of scarfs and kerchiefs, the King
and Queen came to their place, and, getting down from their horses,
mounted the broad stairs that led to the raised platform, and there
took their seats on two thrones bedecked with purple silks and cloths of
silver and of gold.

When all was quiet a bugle sounded, and straightway the archers came
marching in order from their tents. Fortyscore they were in all, as
stalwart a band of yeomen as could be found in all the wide world. So
they came in orderly fashion and stood in front of the dais where King
Henry and his Queen sat. King Henry looked up and down their ranks right
proudly, for his heart warmed within him at the sight of such a gallant
band of yeomen. Then he bade his herald Sir Hugh de Mowbray stand forth
and proclaim the rules governing the game. So Sir Hugh stepped to the
edge of the platform and spoke in a loud clear voice, and thus he said:

That each man should shoot seven arrows at the target that belonged to
his band, and, of the fourscore yeomen of each band,