Page 296 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

it; so on the bright greensward stood ten booths of striped
canvas, a booth for each band of the royal archers, and at
the peak of each fluttered a flag in the mellow air, and the
flag was the color that belonged to the captain of each band.
From the center booth hung the yellow flag of Tepus, the fa-
mous bow bearer of the King; next to it, on one hand, was
the blue flag of Gilbert of the White Hand, and on the other
the blood-red pennant of stout young Clifton of Bucking-
hamshire. The seven other archer captains were also men
of great renown; among them were Egbert of Kent and
William of Southampton; but those first named were most
famous of all. The noise of many voices in talk and laughter
came from within the booths, and in and out ran the at-
tendants like ants about an ant-hill. Some bore ale and beer,
and some bundles of bowstrings or sheaves of arrows. On
each side of the archery range were rows upon rows of seats
reaching high aloft, and in the center of the north side was
a raised dais for the King and Queen, shaded by canvas of
gay colors, and hung about with streaming silken pennants
of red and blue and green and white. As yet the King and
Queen had not come, but all the other benches were full of
people, rising head above head high aloft till it made the eye
dizzy to look upon them. Eightscore yards distant from the
mark from which the archers were to shoot stood ten fair
targets, each target marked by a flag of the color belonging
to the band that was to shoot thereat. So all was ready for
the coming of the King and Queen.
At last a great blast of bugles sounded, and into the
meadow came riding six trumpeters with silver trumpets,