hn and his savage soldiery got
possession of the town where Arthur was in the night, and they seized
the poor boy in his bed. The soldiers took him away with a troop of
horse, and shut him up in a dungeon in a famous castle called the
castle of Falaise. You will see the position of Falaise on the map.

After a while John determined to visit Arthur in his prison, in order
to see if he could not make some terms with him. To accomplish his
purpose more effectually, he waited some time, till he thought the
poor boy's spirit must be broken down by his confinement and his
sufferings. His design was probably to make terms with him by offering
him his liberty, and perhaps some rich estate, if he would only give
up his claims to the crown and acknowledge John as king; but he found
that Arthur, young as he was, and helpless as was his condition in his
lonely dungeon, remained in heart entirely unsubdued. All that he
would say in answer to John's proposal was, "Give me back my kingdom."
At length, John, finding that he could not induce the prince to give
up his claims, went away in a rage, and determined to kill him. If
Arthur were dead, there would then, he thought, be no farther
difficulty, for all acknowledged that after Arthur he himself was the
next heir.

There was another way, too, by which John might become the rightful
heir to the crown. It was a prevalent idea in those days that no
person who was blind, or deaf, or dumb could inherit a crown. To blind
young Arthur, then, would be as effectual a means of extinguishing his
claims as to kill him, and John accordingly determined to destroy the
young prince's right to the succession by putting out his eyes; so he
sent two executioners to perform this cruel deed upon the captive in
his dungeon.

The name of the governor of the castle was Hubert. He was a kind and
humane man, and he pitied his unhappy prisoner; and so, when the
executioners came, and Hubert went to the cell to tell Arthur that
they had come, and what they had come for, Arthur fell on his knees
before him and began to beg for mercy, crying out, Save me! oh, save
me! with such piteous cries that Hubert's heart was moved with
compassion, and he concluded that he would put off the execution of
the dreadful deed till he could see the king again.

John was very angry when he found that his orders had not been obeyed,
and he immediately determined to send Arthur to another prison, which
was in the town of Rouen,