"There are at least two hundred men assembled in the woods," answered a squire who was in attendance. "Here is a proper matter!" said Front-de-Boeuf. "This comes of lending you the use of my castle. You cannot manage your undertaking quietly, but you must bring this nest of hornets about my ears!" "Of hornets?" echoed De Bracy. "Of stingless drones rather--a band of lazy knaves who take to the wood and destroy the venison rather than labor for their maintenance." "Stingless!" replied Front-de-Boeuf. "Fork-headed shafts of a cloth-yard in length, and these shot within the breadth of a French crown, are sting enough." "For shame, sir knight!" said the Templar. "Let us summon our people and sally forth upon them. One knight--ay, one man-at-arms--were enough for twenty such peasants." "Enough, and too much," agreed De Bracy. "I should be ashamed to couch lance against them." "True," answered Front-de-Boeuf, drily, "were they black Turks or Moors, Sir Templar, or the craven peasants of France, most valiant De Bracy; but these are English yeomen, over whom we shall have no advantage save what we may derive from our arms and horses, which will avail us little in the glades of the forest. Sally, saidst thou? We have scarce men enough to defend the castle. The best of mine are at York; so is your band, De Bracy; and we have scarce twenty, besides the handful that were engaged in this mad business." "Thou dost not fear," said the Templar, "that they can assemble in force sufficient to attempt the castle?" "Not so, Sir Brian," answered Front-de-Boeuf. "These outlaws have indeed a daring captain; but without machines, scaling ladders, and experienced leaders my castle may defy them." "Send to thy neighbors," suggested the Templar. "Let them assemble their people and come to the rescue of three knights, besieged by a jester and swineherd in the baronial castle of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf!" "You jest, sir knight," answered the baron; "but to whom shall I send? My allies are at York, where I should have also been but for this infernal enterprise." "Then send to York and recall our people," said De Bracy. "If these [v]churls abide the shaking of my standard, I will give them credit for the boldest outlaws that ever bent bow in greenwood." "And who shall bear such a message?" said Front-de-Boeuf. "The knaves will beset every path and rip the errand out of the man's bosom. I have it," he added, after pausing for a moment. "Sir Templar, thou canst write as well as read, and if we can but find writing materials, thou shalt return an answer to this bold challenge." Paper and pen were presently brought, and Bois-Guilbert sat down and wrote, in the French language, an epistle of the following tenor: