"Yet the two thousand men are still with Edward, are they not?"
Buckingham insisted. "I have three hundred, but methinks even though
you ride with twice that number we would be utterly outmatched."

"Nay, you do not perceive my plan," said Richard. "It will not be
necessary to fight. I could win now with but a hundred men. We
will------"

At that moment a clear voice came up from the street. Richard listened
an instant and then opened the casement.

"De Lacy," he called, "come hither. . . I want you," he said when the
young Knight entered, wrapped in his long cloak, "with all possible
secrecy, to secure all the doors of the inn and bring the keys to me.
At any that cannot be locked, post two of my personal retainers with
orders to permit no one to depart the place. That done, take fifty men
and station them along the road to where it joins the Roman highway
this side the Ouse. Bid them allow no one to travel southward ere
sunrise without express authority from me. Act instantly."




IX

THE ARREST

De Lacy found the landlord dozing beside the chimney in the kitchen.
The fire was still smouldering on the hearth, and the big black kettle