 still kept his grip upon
him. The prince's heart was beating high with hopes of escape, now. A burly
waterman, considerably exalted with liquor, found himself rudely shoved by Canty
in his efforts to plow through the crowd; he laid his great hand on Canty's
shoulder and said -
    »Nay, whither so fast, friend? Dost canker thy soul with sordid business
when all that be leal men and true make holiday?«
    »Mine affairs are mine own, they concern thee not,« answered Canty, roughly,
»take away thy hand and let me pass.«
    »Sith that is thy humor, thou'lt not pass, till thou'st drunk to the Prince
of Wales, I tell thee that,« said the waterman, barring the way resolutely.
    »Give me the cup, then, and make speed, make speed!«
    Other revelers were interested by this time. They cried out -
    »The loving-cup, the loving-cup! make the sour knave drink the loving-cup,
else will we feed him to the fishes.«
    So a huge loving-cup was brought; the waterman, grasping it by one of its
handles, and with his other hand bearing up the end of an imaginary napkin,
presented it in due and ancient form to Canty, who had to grasp the opposite
handle with one of his hands and take off the lid with the other, according to
ancient custom.6 This left the prince hand-free for a second, of course. He
wasted no time, but dived among the forest of legs about him and disappeared. In
another moment he could not have been harder to find, under that tossing sea of
life, if its billows had been the Atlantic's and he a lost sixpence.
    He very soon realized this fact, and straightway busied himself about his
own affairs without further thought of John Canty. He quickly realized another
thing, too. To wit, that a spurious Prince of Wales was being feasted by the
city in his stead. He easily concluded that the pauper lad, Tom Canty, had
deliberately taken advantage of his stupendous opportunity and become a usurper.
Therefore there was but one course to pursue - find his way to the Guildhall,
make himself known, and denounce the impostor. He also made up his mind that Tom
should be allowed a reasonable time for spiritual preparation and then be
hanged, drawn and quartered, according to the law and usage of the day, in cases
of high treason.
 

                                   Chapter 11

                                  At Guildhall

The Royal Barge, attended by
