“For I will go myself and hunt these miscreants as though they were dogs or wolves —­ beasts of prey that needs must be put down with a strong hand.  I will not tell my father the tale, else might he appoint warriors of his own to see to the matter, and the glory be theirs and not ours.  No, this is a matter for my arm to settle.  I will collect around me a band of our bravest youths —­ they shall all be youths like myself.  Our good John knows well the country around our Palace of Guildford —­ in truth I know it indifferently well myself.  We will sally forth together —­ my father will grant me leave to go thither with a body of youths of my own choosing —­ and thence we will scour the forests, scatter or slay these vile disturbers of the peace, restore the lost maidens to their homes, and make recompense to our poor subjects for all they have suffered at their hands.”

It was just the scheme to fascinate the imagination and fire the ardour of a number of high-spirited and generous boys.  The proximity of the Royal Palace of Guildford gave them every facility for carrying out the plan speedily and yet secretly, and the Prince had quickly enlisted a score of well-trained, well-equipped lads to follow him on his chivalrous quest.  Sir James gave ready consent to his petition that the Gascon twins might join his train for a few days.  The King, when he gave his sanction to the proposed expedition to Guildford, believed that his son was going there bent on sport or some boyish pastime, and scarce bestowed a second thought upon the matter.  The royal children had each their own attendants and establishment, following wherever their youthful master or mistress went; and to the eldest son of the King a very decided liberty was given, of which his father had never yet had cause to repent.

Thus it came about that three days after the King’s great feast of the Round Table had ended, the Prince of Wales, with a following of twenty young comrades, in addition to his ordinary staff of attendants, rode forth from the Castle of Windsor in the tardy winter’s dawn, and before night had fallen the gay and gallant little band had reached the Palace of Guildford, which had received due notice of the approach of the King’s son.  Those who were sharp-eyed amongst the spectators of this departure might have noted that the Prince and his immediate followers each wore round his arm a band of black ribbon with a device embroidered upon it.  The device was an eagle worked in gold, and was supposed to be emblematic of the swiftness and the strength that were to characterize the expedition of the Prince, when he should swoop down upon the dastardly foes, and force them to yield up their ill-gotten gains.  These badges had been worked by the clever fingers of Edward’s sisters, the youthful princesses Isabella and Joanna.  Joanna, as the wardrobe rolls of the period show, was a most industrious little maiden with her needle, and must have spent the best part