Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/428

LEO.: I do, thou insolent tyrant! (He leaps at Richard, who strikes down his sword, Enter Phillip, Amaury, and Soldiers.)

PHIL.: What means this unseemly broil between the sworn brethren of the Cross?—the royal Majesty of Endland, and the princely Leopold of Austria? How is it possible for those who are the chiefs and pillars of this holy expedition—

RICH.: A truce with thy remonstrances, France.—This duke, be he prince, pillar, or post, has been insolent, and I have chastised him; that is all. Here is hue and cry, because I have spurned a hound.

LEO.: Majesty of France, I appeal to you and to every sovereign prince against the foul indignity which I have sustained. The King of England has pulled down my banner and trampled upon it.

RICH.: Because he had the audacity to plant it beside mine.

LEO.: My rank, equal to thine, hath entitled me.

RICH.: Assert such an equality for thy person, and, by St. George, I will treat it even as I have thy flag!

PHIL: Nay, but patience, brother of England; and I shall presently show Austria how wrong he is in the matter.—Do not think noble duke, that in permitting the banner of England to occupy the highest point in our camp, we, the independent leaders of this Crusade, acknowledge any inferiority to Richard. It were inconsistent to think so; since even the oriflamme itself—the great banner of France to which Richard himself, in respect of his French possessions, is but a vassal—holds for the present an inferior place to the lion of England. But as sworn brethren of the Cross, military pilgrims, who, laying aside the pride and pomp of this world, are hewing with our swords the way to the Holy Sepuchre, I myself, and the other princes, have renounced to King Richard, from respect to his high renown and great feats of arms, that precedence, which elsewhere and upon other motives would not have been yielded. I am satisfied that when your royal grace of Austria shall have considered this, you will express sorrow for having placed your banner in this spot, and that the royal majesty of England will then give satisfaction for the insult he has offered.

LEO.: Your Majesty of France, the honor of my person, my rank, and my country have been deeply insulted by the King of England. I feel it my duty to refuse the apology you have asked. The utmost I may do, for my honor, is to appeal my quarrel to the General Council of the Crusade.

RICH.: I am drowsy—the fever oppresses me still.—Brother of France, you are acquainted with my humor, and that I have at all times but few words to spare. Know then at once that I will submit a matter touching the honor of England neither to prince nor council. Here stands my banner—whatsoever pennon shall be reared within the shade of it—aye, were it even the oriflamme, of which, I think, you were but now speaking—shall be treated as that dishonored flag; nor will I yield any other satisfaction than what these poor limbs can render in the lists to any bold challenge—aye, were I against five champions instead of one.—There lies our gage; we challenge Leopold of Austria to the combat.

BALD.: (Picking up the glove.) This must not be. Remember that your grace is the leader, the life, and the spirit of this our Crusade. You must not imperil the assurance of victory by endangering your royal person.

RICH.: My lord archbishop, you are the true and proper judge in matters touching the soul; but touching this matter, I had as lief renounce my kingdom, nay my life, rather than my honor.

KEN.: And I, too, protest against the combat. The life of England, the lion-hearted, is of too precious a value to be endangered in a private quarrel.—There, lord archduke, lies my glove; I take King Richard’s quarrel upon myself, and, with his leave, will do battle in his stead.