Chapter: SCENE 3.

The same. The Field of Battle.

[Alarums. Enter KING JOHN and HUBERT.]

KING JOHN.
How goes the day with us? O, tell me, Hubert.

HUBERT.
Badly, I fear. How fares your majesty?

KING JOHN.
This fever that hath troubled me so long
Lies heavy on me;--O, my heart is sick!

[Enter a MESSENGER.]

MESSENGER.
My lord, your valiant kinsman, Falconbridge,
Desires your majesty to leave the field
And send him word by me which way you go.

KING JOHN.
Tell him, toward Swinstead, to the abbey there.

MESSENGER.
Be of good comfort; for the great supply
That was expected by the Dauphin here
Are wreck'd three nights ago on Goodwin Sands.
This news was brought to Richard but even now:
The French fight coldly, and retire themselves.

KING JOHN.
Ay me! this tyrant fever burns me up
And will not let me welcome this good news.--
Set on toward Swinstead: to my litter straight;
Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint.

[Exeunt.]

 When the scene opens, the battle is raging between King John's forces and those of Louis and the rebelling English noblemen. King John and Hubert come on stage. King John asks how things are going. Hubert says not well. He asks how King John is doing. John says that he's feeling a little sick. Just then, a messenger comes in, telling King John that the Bastard wants him to leave the battlefield and find someplace safe to hide out. King John says that he will be going to the abbey at the nearby town of Swinstead. The messenger tells King John to cheer up: some ships bringing supplies for Louis have run aground on a sandbar. He says that the tide of battle is turning against the French. King John continues to complain about his fever. Everybody leaves the stage.

