"Why, thou hast it on thy shoulders," said Blount,--"the lad is mazed."

"No, No, this is Tracy's old mantle," answered Walter. "I go not with
thee to court unless as a gentleman should."

"Why," Said Blount, "thy braveries are like to dazzle the eyes of none
but some poor groom or porter."

"I know that," said the youth; "but I am resolved I will have my own
cloak, ay, and brush my doublet to boot, ere I stir forth with you."

"Well, well," said Blount, "here is a coil about a doublet and a cloak.
Get thyself ready, a God's name!"

They were soon launched on the princely bosom of the broad Thames, upon
which the sun now shone forth in all its splendour.

"There are two things scarce matched in the universe," said Walter to
Blount--"the sun in heaven, and the Thames on the earth."

"The one will light us to Greenwich well enough," said Blount, "and the
other would take us there a little faster if it were ebb-tide."

"And this is all thou thinkest--all thou carest--all thou deemest the
use of the King of Elements and the King of Rivers--to guide three such
poor caitiffs as thyself, and me, and Tracy, upon an idle journey of
courtly ceremony!"

"It is no errand of my seeking, faith," replied Blount, "and I could
excuse both the sun and the Thames the trouble of carrying me where
I have no great mind to go, and where I expect but dog's wages for my
trouble--and by my honour," he added, looking out from the head of the
boat, "it seems to me as if our message were a sort of labour in vain,
for, see, the Queen's barge lies at the stairs as if her Majesty were
about to take water."

It was even so. The royal barge, manned with the Queen's watermen
richly attired in the regal liveries, and having the Banner of England
displayed, did indeed lie at the great stairs which ascended from the
river, and along with it two or three other boats for transporting such
part of her retinue as were not in immediate attendance on the royal
person. The yeomen of the guard, the tallest and most handsome men whom
England could produce, guarded with their halberds the passage from
the palace-gate to the river side, and all seemed in readiness for the
Queen's coming forth, although the day was yet so early.

"By my faith, this bodes us no good," said Blount; "it must be some
perilous cause puts her Grace in motion thus untimeously, By my counsel,
we were best put back again, and tell the Earl what we have seen."

"Tell the Earl what