he began to see how he had blundered. By St. Paul! a child
could have done better. The game is easy now."

Buckingham looked puzzled.

"What do you mean, my lord?" he said. "I have been following blindly
your direction in this affair, and I must admit that the point is very
hazy to me."

"Do you not see," said the Duke, "that by remaining here and sending
young Edward ahead at my approach, Rivers and Grey have overreached
themselves completely? In their desire to keep me from the King--for
plainly they did not know of your coming--they have separated
themselves from Edward and his two thousand men; and in so doing have
lost both Edward and themselves."

"Yet the two thousand men are still with Edward, are they not?"
Buckingham insisted. "I have three hundred, but methinks even though
you ride with twice that number we would be utterly outmatched."

"Nay, you do not perceive my plan," said Richard. "It will not be
necessary to fight. I could win now with but a hundred men. We
will------"

At that moment a clear voice came up from the street. Richard listened
an instant and then opened the casement.

"De Lacy," he called, "come hither. . . I want you," he said when the
young Knight entered, wrapped in his long cloak, "with all possible
secrecy, to secure all the doors of the inn and bring the keys to me.
At any that cannot be locked, post two of my personal retainers with
orders to permit no one to depart the place. That done, take fifty men
and station them along the road to where it joins the Roman highway
this side the Ouse. Bid them allow no one to travel southward ere
sunrise without express authority from me. Act instantly."

IX

THE ARREST

De Lacy found the landlord dozing beside the chimney in the kitchen.
The fire was still smouldering on the hearth, and the big black kettle
gave forth an odor of garlic and vegetables that made the air most
foul. On the floor, in promiscuous confusion, lay various members of
the establishment, of both sexes, who never even stirred at the
Knight's entrance, either because they were too deep in sleep to hear
him or too tired to care if they were trodden upon. Arousing the host,
Aymer demanded all the keys of the inn, in the name of the Duke of
Gloucester, and before the half-dazed fellow could respond he seized
the big bunch that hung at his girdle and snapped it free. Bidding him
mind his own business and go to sleep, he proceeded to execute hi