The Boy Knight

The Boy Knight

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Title: The Boy Knight
Author: G.A. Henty
Release Date: September 2, 2004 [EBook #13354]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE BOY KNIGHT.
A TALE OF THE CRUSADES.
BY G.A. HENTY,
_Author of "The Young Buglers," "Through the Fray," "The Cornet of
Horse," "The Young Colonists," "In Times of Peril," etc., etc._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

The Outlaws.

CHAPTER II.
A Rescue.

CHAPTER III.
The Capture of Wortham Hold.

CHAPTER IV.
The Crusades.

CHAPTER V.
Preparations.

CHAPTER VI.
The Lists.

CHAPTER VII.
Revenge.

CHAPTER VIII.
The Attack.

CHAPTER IX.
The Princess Berengaria.

CHAPTER X.

Pirates.

CHAPTER XI.
In the Holy Land.

CHAPTER XII.
The Accolade.

CHAPTER XIII.
In the Hands of the Saracens.

CHAPTER XIV.
An Effort for Freedom.

CHAPTER XV.
A Hermit's Tale.

CHAPTER XVI.
A Fight of Heroes.

CHAPTER XVII.
An Alpine Storm.

CHAPTER XVIII.
Sentenced to Death.

CHAPTER XIX.

Dresden.

CHAPTER XX.
Under the Greenwood.

CHAPTER XXI.
The Attempt on the Convent.

CHAPTER XXII.
A Dastardly Stratagem.

CHAPTER XXIII.
The False and Perjured Knight.

CHAPTER XXIV.
The Siege of Evesham Castle.

CHAPTER XXV.
In Search of the King.

CHAPTER XXVI.
King Richard's Return to England.

THE BOY KNIGHT.

CHAPTER I.
THE OUTLAWS.

It was a bright morning in the month of August, when a lad of some
fifteen years of age, sitting on a low wall, watched party after party of
armed men riding up to the castle of the Earl of Evesham. A casual
observer glancing at his curling hair and bright open face, as also at the
fashion of his dress, would at once have assigned to him a purely Saxon
origin; but a keener eye would have detected signs that Norman blood
ran also in his veins, for his figure was lither and lighter, his features
more straightly and shapely cut, than was common among Saxons. His
dress consisted of a tight-fitting jerkin, descending nearly to his knees.
The material was a light-blue cloth, while over his shoulder hung a
short cloak of a darker hue. His cap was of Saxon fashion, and he wore
on one side a little plume of a heron. In a somewhat costly belt hung a
light short sword, while across his knees lay a crossbow, in itself
almost a sure sign of its bearer being of other than Saxon blood. The
boy looked anxiously as party after party rode past toward the castle.
"I would give something," he said, "to know what wind blows these
knaves here. From every petty castle in the Earl's feu the retainers seem
hurrying here. Is he bent, I wonder, on settling once and for all his
quarrels with the Baron of Wortham? or can he be intending to make a
clear sweep of the woods? Ah! here comes my gossip Hubert; he may
tell me the meaning of this gathering."
Leaping to his feet, the speaker started at a brisk walk to meet a
jovial-looking personage coming down from the direction of the castle.
The newcomer was dressed in the attire of a falconer, and two dogs
followed at his heels.
"Ah, Master Cuthbert," he said, "what brings you so near to the castle?
It is not often that you favor us with your presence."
"I am happier in the woods, as you well know, and was on my way
thither but now, when I paused at the sight of all these troopers flocking
in to Evesham. What enterprise has Sir Walter on hand now, think
you?"
"The earl keeps his own counsel," said the falconer, "but methinks a
shrewd guess might be made at the purport of the gathering. It was but

three days since that his foresters were beaten back by the landless men,
whom they caught in the very act of cutting up a fat buck. As thou
knowest, my lord though easy and well-disposed to all, and not fond of
harassing and driving the people as are many of his neighbors, is yet to
the full as fanatical anent his forest privileges as the worst of them.
They tell me that when the news came in of the poor figure that his
foresters cut with broken bows and draggled plumes--for the varlets
had