WINNING HIS SPURS

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 ALFINE 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




WINNING HIS SPURS.


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 towards the castle.