“We have them like rats in a trap,” cried Gaston, with sparkling eyes, as he once more joined the Prince, his brother with him.  “They can only escape up these steep banks thickly overgrown, and we know that there is but this one path.  On the other side it is a sheer drop; a goat could not find foothold.  If we can but take them by surprise, and post an ambush ready to fall upon escaped stragglers who reach the top, there will not be one left to tell the tale when the deed is done.”

The Prince set his teeth, and the battle light which in after days men learned to regard with awe shone brightly in his eyes.

“Good,” he said briefly:  “they shall be served as they have served others —­ taken in their slumber, taken in the midst of their security.  Nay, even so it will not be for them as it has been for their victims, for doubtless they will have their arms beside them, and will spring from their slumber to fight like wild wolves trapped; but I trow the victory will lie with us, and he who fears may stay away.  Are we not all clad in leather, and armed to repulse the savage attacks of the wild boar of the woods?  Thus equipped, need we fear these human wild beasts?  Methinks we shall sweep this day from the face of the earth a fouler scourge than ever beasts of the forest prove.”

“Hist!” whispered Oliver de Brocas cautiously; “methinks I hear a sound approaching.  It is our fellows joining us.”

Oliver was right.  The trail had now been cautiously followed by the huntsmen and their young charges, and the next moment the whole twenty stood at the head of the pathway, together with the Master Huntsman, and some half-dozen stout fellows all armed with murderous-looking hunting knives, and betraying by their looks the same eagerness for the fight as the band of youthful warriors.

It was vain to plead with the Prince to be one of those told off to remain in ambush in order to intercept and slay any fugitive who might escape the melee below.  No, the young heir of England was resolved to be foremost in the fray; and the utmost that he would consent to was that the party should be led down by the Master Huntsman himself, whilst he walked second, John behind him, the rest pressing on in single file, one after the other, as quickly as might be.  Down went the gallant little band —­ with the exception of two stalwart huntsmen and four of the younger amongst the boys, who were left to guard the head of the path —­ not knowing the risk they ran:  whether they would find an alert and well-armed foe awaiting them at the bottom, or whether they might fall upon the enemy unawares.  Very silent and cautious were their movements.  The Huntsman and the Gascon brothers moved noiselessly as cats, and even the less trained youths were softly cautious in their movements.  Downwards they pressed in breathless excitement, till they found themselves leaving the thick scrub behind and emerging upon a rocky platform of rude shape.  Here the Master Huntsman made an imperative sign to the Prince to stop, whilst he crept forward a few paces upon hands and knees, and peeped over the edge.