By the time I woke my master, the sun was already peeping over the forest. It didn’t look quite so scary in the daylight and at least it had stopped raining. But I was still glad when Sir Percy decided to bring Patchcoat, too. “He can tell us a few jokes as we go along,” Sir Percy said, as we stepped out into the castle courtyard. The king, queen and sheriff were getting ready to go hunting with Sir Spencer and the other knights. “Besides, it’s always useful to have an extra pair of eyes when one is hunting for dangerous outlaws, don’t you think?”My master was in a remarkably confident mood. Even so, I was surprised when he turned down the king’s offer of a platoon of his best soldiers.“Are you sure, Sir Percy?” said the king.“Quite sure, sire,” said Sir Percy. “Any extra men will only – um – make too much noise. Stealth, sire, that’s the only way to catch the Ghost. Creep up on him unawares, that sort of thing.” “What?”
