The second bird of the cast was borne upon the
gauntleted wrist of Raoul the chief falconer in the rear.
At the right side of the monarch and a little behind him rode a
youth some twenty years of age, tall, slim and dark, with noble
aquiline features and keen penetrating eyes which sparkled with
vivacity and affection as he answered the remarks of the King. He
was clad in deep crimson diapered with gold, and the trappings of
his white palfrey were of a magnificence which proclaimed the rank
of its rider. On his face, still free from mustache or beard,
there sat a certain gravity and majesty of expression which showed
that young as he was great affairs had been in his keeping and
that his thoughts and interests were those of the statesman and
the warrior. That great day when, little more than a school-boy,
he had led the van of the victorious army which had crushed the
power of France and Crecy, had left this stamp upon his features;
but stern as they were they had not assumed that tinge of
fierceness which in after years was to make "The Black Prince" a
name of terror on the marches of France. Not yet had the first
shadow of fell disease come to poison his nature ere it struck at
his life, as he rode that spring day, light and debonair, upon the
heath of Crooksbury.
On the left of the King, and so near to him that great intimacy
was implied, rode a man about his own age, with the broad face,
the projecting jaw and the flattish nose which are often the
outward indications of a pugnacious nature.
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