Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/155

 So Bonne Lance fretted, thinking of some trap

Day after day, till on a time he said;

"John of Newcastle, if we have good hap,

We catch our thief in two days." "How?" I said.

"Why, Sir, to-day he rideth out again.

Hoping to take well certain sumpter mules

From Carcassonne, going with little train,

Because, forsooth, he thinketh us mere fools;

"But if we set an ambush in some wood,

He is but dead: so, Sir, take thirty spears

To Verville forest, if it seem you good."

Then felt I like the horse in Job, who hears

The dancing trumpet sound, and we went forth;

And my red lion on the spear-head flapped,

As faster than the cool wind we rode North,

Towards the wood of Verville; thus it happed.

We rode a soft space on that day, while spies

Got news about Sir Geffray; the red wine

Under the road-side bush was clear; the flies,

The dragon-flies I mind me most, did shine

In brighter arms than ever I put on;

So—"Geffray," said our spies, "would pass that way

Next day at sundown;" then he must be won;

And so we enter'd Verville wood next day.

In the afternoon; through it the highway runs,

'Twixt copses of green hazel, very thick,

And underneath, with glimmering of suns,

The primroses are happy; the dews lick