of green woollen over it; boots of deerskin had he withal,
and spurs thereon: he was girt with a short sword, and had
a quiver of arrows at his back, and bare a great bow in his
hand.

"Yea," quoth Simon, "thou deemest thee a gay swain belike;
but thou lookest likelier for a deerstealer than a rider,
thou, hung up to thy shooting-gear. Deemest thou we go
a-hunting of the hind?"

Quoth Christopher: "I wot not, squire; but the great lord
who lieth sleeping yonder, hath told me that thou shouldest
give me his errand; and of some hunting or feat of
wood-craft he spake. Moreover, this crooked stick can drive
a shaft through matters harder than a hind's side."

Simon looked confused, and he reddened and stammered
somewhat as he answered: "Ah, yea: so it was; I mind me;
I will tell thee anon."

Said Christopher: "Withal, squire, if we are wending into
the wood, as needs we must, unless we ride round about this
dale in a ring all day, dost thou deem we shall go at a
gallop many a mile? Nay, fair sir; the horses shall wend a
foot's pace oftenest, and we shall go a-foot not unseldom
through the thickets."

Now was Simon come to himself again, and that self was
surly, so he said: "Ay, ay, little King, thou deemest thee
exceeding wise in these woods, dost thou not? and forsooth,