"He has been set free by Herne the Hunter!" cried the demon. "Tell all
who question thee so, and relate what thou now seest."
At the words a bright blue flame illumined the chamber, in the midst of
which was seen the tall dark figure of Herne. His Franciscan's gown
had dropped to his feet, and he appeared habited in his wild deer-skin
garb. With a loud cry, the guard fell senseless on the ground.
A few minutes after this, as was subsequently ascertained, a tall
Franciscan friar threaded the cloisters behind Saint George's Chapel,
and giving the word to the sentinels, passed through the outer door
communicating with the steep descent leading to the town.
X. How Herne the Hunter was himself hunted.
On the guard's recovery, information of what had occurred was
immediately conveyed to the king, who had not yet retired to rest, but
was sitting in his private chamber with the Dukes of Suffolk and
Norfolk. The intelligence threw him into a great fury: he buffeted the
guard, and ordered him to be locked up in the dungeon whence the
prisoner had escaped; reprimanded the canon; directed the Duke of
Suffolk, with a patrol, to make search in the neighbourhood of the
castle for the fugitive and the friar; and bade the Duke of Norfolk get
together a band of arquebusiers; and as soon as the latter were
assembled, he put himself at their head and again rode into the forest.
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