custom for many English people to make
journeys to Jerusalem, which were called
pilgrimages, in order that they might pray
beside the tomb of Our Saviour there.
Jerusalem belonging to the Turks, and the Turks
hating Christianity, these Christian travellers
were often insulted and ill-used. The Pilgrims
bore it patiently for some time; but at length
a remarkable man, of great earnestness and
eloquence, called PETER THE HERMIT, began
to preach in various places against the
Turks, and to declare that it was the duty
of good Christians to drive away those
unbelievers from the tomb of Our Saviour, and
to take possession of it and protect it. An
excitement, such as the world had never
known before, arose. Thousands and
thousands of men of all ranks and conditions
departed for Jerusalem to make war against
the Turks. The war is called in history the
first Crusade; and every Crusader wore a
cross, marked on his right shoulder.

All the Crusaders were not zealous Christians.
Among them were vast numbers of
the restless, idle, profligate, and adventurous
spirits of the time. Some became Crusaders
for the love of change; some, in the hope of
plunder; some, because they had nothing to
do at home; some, because they did what the
Priests told them; some, because they liked
to see foreign countries; some, because they
were fond of knocking men about, and would
as soon knock a Turk about as a Christian.
Robert of Normandy may have been
influenced by all these motives; and by a kind
desire, besides, to save the Christian Pilgrims
from bad treatment in future. He wanted to
raise a number of armed men, and to go to the
Crusade. He could not do so without money.
He had no money; and he sold his dominions
to his brother, the Red King, for five years.
With the large sum he thus obtained, he
fitted out his Crusaders gallantly, and went
away to Jerusalem in martial state. The
Red King, who made money out of everything,
stayed at home, busily squeezing more
money out of Normans and English.

After three years of great hardship and
suffering— from shipwreck at sea— from travel
in strange lands— from hunger, thirst, and
fever, upon the burning sands of the desert—
and from the merciless fury of the Turks—
the valiant Crusaders got possession of Our
Saviour's tomb. The Turks were still
resisting and fighting bravely, but this success
increased the general desire in Europe to
join the Crusade. Another great French
Duke was proposing to sell his dominions for
a term to the rich Red King, when the King's
reign came to a sudden and violent end.

You have not forgotten the New .Forest
which the Conqueror made, and which the
miserable people whose homes he had laid
waste, so hated. The cruelty of the Forest
Laws, and the torture and death they brought
upon the peasantry, increased this hatred.
The poor persecuted country- people believed
that the New Forest was enchanted. They
said that in thunder-storms, and on dark
nights, demons appeared, moving beneath
the branches of the gloomy trees. They said
that a terrible spectre had foretold to Norman
hunters that the Red King should be punished
there. And now, in the pleasant season of
May, when the Red King had reigned almost
thirteen years, and a second Prince of the
Conqueror's blood—another Richard, the son
of Duke Robert—was killed by an arrow in
this dreaded Forest, the people said that the
second time was not the last, and that there
was another death to come.

It was a lonely Forest, accursed in the
people's hearts for the wicked deeds that had
been done to make it, and no man save the
King and his Courtiers and Huntsmen liked
to stray there. But, in reality, it was like
any other forest. In the spring, the green
leaves broke out of the buds; in the summer,
flourished heartily, and made deep shades;
in the winter, shrivelled and blew down, and
lay in brown heaps on the moss. Some trees
were stately, and grew high and strong; some
had fallen of themselves; some were felled by
the forester's axe; some were hollow, and the
rabbits burrowed at their roots; some few were
struck by lightning, and stood white and bare.
There were hill sides covered with rich fern, on
which the morning dew so beautifully sparkled;
there were brooks, where the deer went down
to drink, or over which the whole herd
bounded, flying from the arrows of the huntsmen;
there were sunny glades, and solemn
places where but little light came through
the rustling leaves. The songs of the birds
in the New Forest were pleasanter to hear
than the shouts of fighting men outside; and
even when the Red King and his Court came
hunting through its solitudes, cursing loud
and riding hard, with a jingling of stirrups
and bridles and knives and daggers, they
did much less harm there, than among the
English or Normans, and the stags died (as
they lived) far easier than the people.

Upon a Day in August, the Red King, now
reconciled to his brother Fine-Scholar, came
with a great train to hunt in the New Forest.
Fine-Scholar was of the party. They were a
merry party, and had lain all night at
Malwood-Keep, a hunting-lodge in the forest,
where they had made good cheer, both at
supper and breakfast, and drunk a deal of
wine. The party dispersed in various directions,
as the custom of hunters then was.
The King took with him, only SIR WALTER
TYRREL, who was a famous sportsman, and to
whom he had given before they mounted
horse that morning two fine arrows.

The last time the King was ever seen alive,
he was riding with Sir Walter Tyrrel, and
their dogs were hunting together.

It was almost night, when a poor charcoal
burner, passing through the Forest with his
cart, came upon the solitary body of a dead
man, shot with an arrow in the breast, and