""You have not allowed for the wind, Hubert," said Locksley, "or that had been a better shot."
"So saying, and without showing the least anxiety to pause upon his aim, Locksley stepped to the appointed 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 bow-string, yet it alighted in the target two inches nearer to the white spot which marked the centre than that of Hubert.
""By the light of Heaven!" said Prince John to Hubert, "an thou suffer that runagate knave to overcome thee, thou art worthy of the gallows!"
"Hubert had but one set speech for all occasions. "An your highness were to hang me," he said, "a man can but do his best.
Nevertheless, my grandsire drew a good bow--"
""The foul fiend on thy grandsire and all his generation!"
interrupted John; "shoot, knave, and shoot thy best, or it shall be worse for thee!"
"Thus exhorted, Hubert resumed his place, and not neglecting the caution which he had received from his adversary, he made the necessary allowance for a very light air of wind, which had just risen, and shot so successfully that his arrow alighted in the very centre of the target.
""A Hubert! a Hubert!" shouted the populace, more interested in a known person than in a stranger. "In the clout!--in the clout!--a 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, it lighted right upon that of his compet.i.tor, 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 must be the devil, and no man of flesh and blood," whispered the yeomen to each other; "such archery was never seen 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; and welcome every brave yeoman who shall try a shot at it to win a smile from the bonny la.s.s he loves best.""
Locksley thereupon sets up a willow wand, six feet long and as thick as a man"s thumb. Hubert is forced to decline the honor of taking part in such a trial of archery skill, but his rival easily splits the wand at a distance of three hundred feet and carries off the prize.
"Even Prince John, in admiration of Locksley"s skill, lost for an instant his dislike to his person. "These twenty n.o.bles," he said, "which, with the bugle, thou hast fairly won, are thine own; we will make them fifty, if thou wilt take livery and service with us as a yeoman of our bodyguard, and be near to our person. For never did so strong a hand bend a bow, or so true an eye direct a shaft."" [Footnote: Ivanhoe, Vol. 1, chap. XIII.]
Locksley, however, declares that it is impossible for him to enter the Prince"s service, generously shares his prize with the worthy Hubert, and retires once more to his beloved haunts among the lights and shadows of the good greenwood.
GLOSSARY
Abdalrahman, founder of the independent Ommiad (Saracenic) power in Spain, conquered at Tours by Charles Martel
Aberfraw, scene of nuptials of Branwen and Matholch
Absyrtus, younger brother of Medea
Abydos, a town on the h.e.l.lespont, nearly opposite to Sestos
Abyla, Mount, or Columna, a mountain in Morocco, near Ceuta, now called Jebel Musa or Ape"s Hill, forming the Northwestern extremity of the African coast opposite Gibraltar (See Pillars of Hercules)
Acestes, son of a Trojan woman who was sent by her father to Sicily, that she might not be devoured by the monsters which infested the territory of Troy
Acetes, Baccha.n.a.l captured by Pentheus
Achates, faithful friend and companion of Aeneas
Achelous, river-G.o.d of the largest river in Greece--his Horn of Plenty
Achilles, the hero of the Iliad, son of Peleus and of the Nereid Thetis, slain by Paris
Acis, youth loved by Galatea and slain by Polyphemus
Acontius, a beautiful youth, who fell in love with Cydippe, the daughter of a n.o.ble Athenian.
Acrisius, son of Abas, king of Argos, grandson of Lynceus, the great-grandson of Danaus.
Actaeon, a celebrated huntsman, son of Aristaeus and Autonoe, who, having seen Diana bathing, was changed by her to a stag and killed by his own dogs.
Admeta, daughter of Eurystheus, covets Hippolyta"s girdle.
Admetus, king of Thessaly, saved from death by Alcestis
Adonis, a youth beloved by Aphrodite (Venus), and Proserpine; killed by a boar.
Adrastus, a king of Argos.
Aeacus, son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Aegina, renowned in all Greece for his justice and piety.
Aeaea, Circe"s island, visited by Ulysses.
Aeetes, or Aeeta, son of Helios (the Sun) and Perseis, and father of Medea and Absyrtus.
Aegeus, king of Athens.
Aegina, a rocky island in the middle of the Saronic gulf.
Aegis, shield or breastplate of Jupiter and Minerva.
Aegisthus, murderer of Agamemnon, slain by Orestes.
Aeneas, Trojan hero, son of Anchises and Aphrodite (Venus), and born on Mount Ida, reputed first settler of Rome,
Aeneid, poem by Virgil, relating the wanderings of Aeneas from Troy to Italy,
Ae"olus, son of h.e.l.len and the nymph Orseis, represented in Homer as the happy ruler of the Aeolian Islands, to whom Zeus had given dominion over the winds,
Aesculapius, G.o.d of the medical art,
Aeson, father of Jason, made young again by Medea,
Aethiopians, inhabitants of the country south of Egypt,