A rider in complete plate of black mail caught him down, still holding on to his bow, and, placing him across the saddle, brought down the flat of his gauntleted hand upon a spot of the lad's person which, being uncovered by mail, responded with a resounding smack.

Then, amid the boisterous laughter of the men-at-arms, he let Laurence slip to the ground.
But the younger son of Brawny Kim, master armourer of Carlinwark, was not the lad to take such an insult meekly, even from a man-at-arms riding on horseback.

He threw his bow into the nearest thicket, and seizing the most convenient ammunition, which chanced to be in great plenty that day upon the braes of Balmaghie, pursued his insulter along the glade with such excellent aim and good effect that the black unadorned armour of the horseman showed disks of defilement all over, like a tree trunk covered with toadstool growths.
"Shoot down the intolerable young rascal! Shall he thus beard my Lord Maxwell ?" cried a voice from the troop which witnessed the chase.

And more than one bow was bent, and several hand-fusils levelled from the company which followed behind.
But the injured knight threw up his visor.
"Hold, there!" he cried, "the boy is right.

It was I who insulted him, and he did right to be revenged, though the rogue's aim is more to be admired than his choice of weapons.