Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-06
believed that the night would make them
masters of London and its citadel.
CHAPTER XI.

Cf1Af EN- Al.
Master, go on. and I will follow thee.
AS You Like II.
Now Roy of Calverton had ridden out of
the Tower on the dawn of the day which
found Wyatt's men r~epulsed at London
bridge, when they were driven westward
to the villages. Being assured that many
hours yet must elapse before the rebels
spanned the river, he lay the next night
In the fields Of st. James, but upon the
second morning, at daybreak, a messenger
having ridden in from Kingston to say that
a multitude was passing there, he COM
manded his men to horse and set out
quickly by the western road.
There had been fifty with him when he
quilted the Tower Gate, but London
added to his numbers and from the shut
tered houses Of the ghostly streets he had
taken willing troopers who asked but good
employment, and others that panic drove
forth from the Tower. A goodly company,
which the fearful citizens had armed right
readily and given of the best in horse and
caparison. Roy would yet count upon his
own rather than these new allies. and bid
ding the men OF Sherwood press close about
him he claimed their ancient service.
I've that have been brothers to me in
fortune or adversely, will ye not be my
right arm now?" he said. WAS It not
my gift OF the forest that won your allie
glance and the right to serve ycr? AS ye
stood with me before, so shall We stand
this day. Nay, ye shall give me the love
you ever gave! God knows l would &C
complish this thing for the sake Of one all
dear to me and to you a mistress we'll be-
lovedl For Sherwood and our homes let
the blow be struck! / count upon We, COM
rades, ] count upon the affection ye bear
mel"
They heard him with reclamation. and
such as had possessed themselves Of pixies
In the city waved pennons in the air and
cried, "A Roy, A Roy Of Calvertoni"
Never, it may be, did such a motley com
pany ride out to befriend an English
queen, or to save her from the people.
Look down upon it from the lattice win
down as it winds it's way through London's
narrow streets, and you shall see a sight
so wonderful that even the sober chronicle
may not pass it idly by. Stern men are
there, and testers to mock their stern
ness; the bells and caps Of fools, the steel
casques and corselets Of the troopers:
lambeaux to light the shrouded walls;
Meagre, the dwarf, upon a great black
horse; Rene, the page, to bear his master
service; he they called THE knight OF the
Silver How" that ZONE would name Sir
Percival; and proud among all Roy him
self, that went cheek by jowl with his
anxieties. For who would go all hopeful
or with sure confidence upon that errand
which sent him to the fields TO find his
quarry there? Devise It as he might,
what sure thing should guide him to
Wyatt's camp or indicate the bridge by
which the rebels must come In? No
hazard Of the bean was TO be reekoned
upon less confidently. Any chance or cir
eumstanee, a holder stroke than Roy had
the wit to conceive. might yet send Wyatt
to the Tower to be the Judge Of those that
we're judges now. All, indeed, must be
won or all lost that day; there was no
middle course, no men might speak OF
compromise: for IL these rebels were not
scattered as chan before the wind, then
should those that would scatter them
crave mercy In vain.
1t has been written that panic fell early