"Shall I ride forward," suggested Ranulph," and examine the rocks?"

“No, no, I pray you. I know the spot well. Let me rather go; and, if I find one, the glory will be all mine," said Rosamond, with childish anxiety.

Giving them all a sign to stand still behind the shelter of the trees, she rode gently towards the bank, making a curve in order not to alarm the quarry, should he occupy the place she supposed. For a few minutes it was evident that her hopes were not realised; but, ere long, she returned urging her horse to full speed, and almost breathless with delight.

"He is there! he is there!" was all she could say; and, calling to her companions to follow her, she galloped across the hill which separated her from the King. At the bottom was an immense dyke, half filled with water. Rosamond cleared the obstruction at a flying bound; and Black Sultan picking his way through ground so rocky and uneven that there seemed scarce room on which to tread, soon brought her to the presence of Henry. He was still in earnest conversation with Becket; but

seeing her approach, he hastened to meet her-saying, as he did so,

"What news, fair lady, from the river side? Are we to have a ride? or is Merlin to go home hooded as he came ?"

"Unhood him quickly, my lord," said Rosamond, wild with joy; "a heron stands close behind yon rocks,-I found him myself. A few minutes ride will bring us close upon him, without even loosing the dogs. Follow me! but quickly; a moment may make us too late."

"We follow, gladly follow, sweet lady," cried Henry, untwisting the lunes from his finger, and catching the animation of Rosamond, who, with burning cheek and flashing eye, held back her anxious steed until the hawk was ready; then hastily, but silently, and followed by the King and Becket, she galloped back to the spot where she had left her companions.

Sir Ranulph quickly placed her hawk upon her hand, and, without pausing for a moment, they gained the brow of the rocky hill which formed a screen between them and the river. Then stealing quietly round its base, they came suddenly in view of

the King: "our Norway hawk is no match for your heron of the Wye,—we must send up Odin to his succour. What say you!--Will you let him share with Merlin the honours of the day!"

"If your grace permits it," answered Rosamond, gladly; and, unhooding her hawk, she first caressed it with her hand, then threw it up to join the combatants.

The fight became now too unequal; the fresh vigour of Odin coming suddenly upon the already wasted strength of the heron, was more than he seemed able to endure; and again the wily bird took to flight, but uttering cries which plainly told his distress.

Once more the whole field was in commotion; and as the crisis drew near, the animation increased. The King still headed the horsemen, followed by Becket, De Essex, and William de Montfort; but Rosamond, whose horse being of Arab blood, was far superior in speed to the large Norman horses on which most of the riders were mounted, was constantly in advance. The perfection of her riding attracted every eye,-she was like part of her horse, such was the ease and

lightness with which she sat; and the address with which she guided him through the very difficult ground over which their course now lay, elicited more than one encomium from Henry, who, a connoisseur in all things, could not fail to remark the courage and dexterity so gracefully blended with a manner both feminine and child-like.

The attention of the King was fully occupied. The sport grew every moment more exciting; but some dangerous leaps which he had observed Rosamond unhesitatingly take, had brought him to her side, and just in time. The heron, hard side,—and pressed, was beginning to yield; Rosamond's hawk, watching his opportunity, stooped upon his right wing, and in spite of the blows which, with his beak, he contrived to inflict, maintained his hold, and both came down to the earth together. They fell upon the opposite side of a deep ravine, amid rugged and dangerous rocks; and the company, to their horror, beheld the undaunted Rosamond about to spring from the height, when a cry from the King, who was nearest her, caused her

to pause and m ber bead: and at the ske bucket. Henry seized her rein, 2nd Flack Sultan was arrested in his

It needed not the pale cheek of Sir Ralph, who now came up, to tell her the danger she had escaped: but the mortification of not being able to come to the support of her favourite at the last moment, which was one of the crowning glories of the art, tinged her cheek with anger. What was her surprise, however, before she had time to speak, to see the Prior of Severnstoke quietly advance to the edge of the chasm, and accurately measuring the distance with his eye, leap his horse over the dangerous descent, and seizing the heron, bury his long bill in the earth, while, with a single blow of his hunting whip, both legs of the bird were broken! The consummate skill with which this master-stroke in the art of hawking was executed, excited the admiration of all the lovers of the chase, and a burst of enthusiastic applause, in which none more heartily joined than De Essex and De Montfort, who had before so loudly