"
Then turning to the King, Queen Eleanor said, "I want no such aid as Sir
Robert giveth me; but against thy wine and beer and stout bows of yew I
wager this girdle all set with jewels from around my waist; and surely
that is worth more than thine."
"Now, I take thy wager," quoth the King. "Send for thy archers
straightway. But here come forth the others; let them shoot, and then I
will match those that win against all the world."
"So be it," said the Queen. Thereupon, beckoning to young Richard
Partington, she whispered something in his ear, and straightway the Page
bowed and left the place, crossing the meadow to the other side of the
range, where he was presently lost in the crowd. At this, all that stood
around whispered to one another, wondering what it all meant, and what
three men the Queen was about to set against those famous archers of the
King's guard.
And now the ten archers of the King's guard took their stand again, and
all the great crowd was hushed to the stillness of death. Slowly and
carefully each man shot his shafts, and so deep was the silence that you
could hear every arrow rap against the target as it struck it.
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