station, and shot his arrow as carelessly in appearance as if he had not even looked at the mark. He was speaking almost at the instant that the shaft left the bowstring, yet it alighted in the target two inches nearer the center 5 than that of Hubert.

"If thou suffer this knave to overcome thee," said Prince John to Hubert," thou art worthy of the gallows.'

Hubert had but one speech for all occasions. "If your Highness were to hang me," he said, "a man can but do 10 his best. Nevertheless, my grandsire drew a good bow-" Shoot, knave!" interrupted John; "and shoot thy best, or it shall be the worse for thee."

Thus exhorted, Hubert resumed his place, and, not neglecting the caution he had received from his adversary, 15 he shot so successfully that his arrow alighted in the very center of the target.

20

"Hubert! Hubert!" shouted the populace, more interested in a known person than in a stranger. "Hubert forever!"

"Thou canst not mend that shot, Locksley," said the prince with an insulting smile.

"I will notch his shaft for him, however," replied Locksley. And letting fly his arrow with a little more precaution than before, he sent it right upon that of his 25 competitor, which it split to shivers. The people who

stood around were so astonished at his wonderful dexterity that they could not even give vent to their surprise in their usual clamor.

"This is no man of flesh and blood," whispered the yeomanry to each other; "such archery was never seen 5 since a bow was first bent in Britain."

"And now," said Locksley, "I will crave your Grace's permission to plant such a mark as is used in the North Country. Let your guards attend me, if you please; I go but to cut a rod from the next willow bush."

Prince John made a signal that some attendants should follow him in case of his escape; but the cry of "Shame! shame!" which burst from the multitude, led him to alter his ungenerous purpose.

10

Locksley returned almost instantly with a willow wand 15 about six feet in length, perfectly straight, and rather thicker than a man's thumb. He began to peel this with great composure, saying, at the same time, that to ask a good woodsman to shoot at a target as broad as had been used was to put shame upon his skill.

20

"For my own part," he said, "I would as soon take for a mark King Arthur's round table, which held sixty. knights around it. But," he added, walking to the other end of the lists and sticking the willow wand upright in the ground, "he that hits that rod at fivescore yards, I 25.

call him an archer fit to bear bow and quiver before a king, were it the stout King Richard himself.”

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My grandsire," said Hubert, "drew a good bow at the battle of Hastings, and never shot at such a mark in his 5 life and neither will I. A man can but do his best, and

I will not shoot where I am sure to miss. I might as well shoot at a wheat straw, or at a sunbeam, as at a twinkling white streak which I can hardly see."

"Cowardly dog!" said Prince John. "Sirrah Locksley, 10 do thou shoot; but if thou hittest such a mark, I will say thou art the first man ever did so. However, thou shalt not crow over us with a mere show of superior skill."

"I will do my best, as Hubert says," answered Locksley; ·66 no man can do more."

15 So saying, he again bent his bow, but now he looked with attention to his weapon and changed the string, which was a little frayed by the two former shots. He took his aim with some deliberation, and the multitude awaited the event in breathless silence. The archer vindicated their 20 opinion of his skill; his arrow split the willow rod against which it was aimed. A jubilee of acclamations followed, and even Prince John, in admiration of Locksley's skill, lost for an instant his dislike to his person.

"These twenty nobles," he said, "which with the bugle 25 thou hast fairly won, are thine own. We will make them

fifty if thou wilt take service with us, for never did so strong a hand bend a bow, nor so true an eye direct a shaft."

"Pardon me, noble prince," said Locksley, "but I have 5 vowed that if ever I take service it shall be with your royal brother, Richard. These twenty nobles I leave to Hubert, who has this day drawn as brave a bow as his grandsire did at Hastings. Had his modesty not refused the trial, he would have hit the wand as well as I."

10 Hubert shook his head as he received with reluctance the bounty of the stranger; and Locksley, anxious to escape further observation, mixed with the crowd and was

seen no more.

yeoman: a freeholder or farmer. - Prince John: afterward King John of England, one of the most dishonorable men in all history. — nobles : gold coins. Twenty nobles were worth a little more than thirty-two dollars. lists: the ground inclosed for a mock battle, or any trial of skill. — a shot at rovers: arrows shot on an upward curve, so that they may hit the mark as they fall. — accounted: considered. — baldric: a broad, ornamented belt, often worn over one shoulder. — braggart: a vain, boasting person. battle of Hastings: a famous battle, fought in 1066, which made the Normans masters of England. — King Richard: the brother of John, but a man of heroic qualities. He is known as Richard of the Lion Heart. sirrah: a form of address showing contempt. - bounty: a charitable gift.