Chapter: SCENE 6.

An open place in the neighborhood of Swinstead Abbey.

[Enter the BASTARD and HUBERT, meeting.]

HUBERT.
Who's there? speak, ho! speak quickly, or I shoot.

BASTARD.
A friend.--What art thou?

HUBERT.
Of the part of England.

BASTARD.
Whither dost thou go?

HUBERT.
What's that to thee? Why may I not demand
Of thine affairs, as well as thou of mine?

BASTARD.
Hubert, I think.

HUBERT.
Thou hast a perfect thought:
I will, upon all hazards, well believe
Thou art my friend that know'st my tongue so well.
Who art thou?

BASTARD.
Who thou wilt: and if thou please,
Thou mayst befriend me so much as to think
I come one way of the Plantagenets.

HUBERT.
Unkind remembrance! thou and eyeless night
Have done me shame:--brave soldier, pardon me,
That any accent breaking from thy tongue
Should scape the true acquaintance of mine ear.

BASTARD.
Come, come; sans compliment, what news abroad?

HUBERT.
Why, here walk I, in the black brow of night,
To find you out.

BASTARD.
Brief, then; and what's the news?

HUBERT.
O, my sweet sir, news fitting to the night,
Black, fearful, comfortless, and horrible.

BASTARD.
Show me the very wound of this ill news;
I am no woman, I'll not swoon at it.

HUBERT.
The king, I fear, is poison'd by a monk:
I left him almost speechless and broke out
To acquaint you with this evil, that you might
The better arm you to the sudden time,
Than if you had at leisure known of this.

BASTARD.
How did he take it; who did taste to him?

HUBERT.
A monk, I tell you; a resolved villain,
Whose bowels suddenly burst out: the king
Yet speaks, and peradventure may recover.

BASTARD.
Who didst thou leave to tend his majesty?

HUBERT.
Why, know you not? The lords are all come back,
And brought Prince Henry in their company;
At whose request the king hath pardon'd them,
And they are all about his majesty.

BASTARD.
Withhold thine indignation, mighty heaven,
And tempt us not to bear above our power!--
I'll tell thee, Hubert, half my power this night,
Passing these flats, are taken by the tide,--
These Lincoln washes have devoured them;
Myself, well-mounted, hardly have escap'd.
Away, before! conduct me to the king;
I doubt he will be dead or ere I come.

[Exeunt.]

 Welcome to the neighborhood of Swinstead Abbey, where King John is totally hiding out. The Bastard and Hubert enter the scene from opposite directions. They don't recognize each other in the dark. They're all, "Who's there?" and, "Speak quickly, or I'll shoot!" Eventually, the Bastard recognizes Hubert by his voice and reveals his own identity. Hubert's a little embarrassed that he didn't recognize the Bastard. But then the Bastard says, "Don't worry about it. So tell me, what's happening?" Hubert is all, " King John has totally been poisoned by a monk!" Then Hubert makes it sound like this same monk was also the King's taster, and he died when his own poison made his "bowels suddenly burst out." The Bastard asks who's guarding the king now. Hubert tells him about how Salisbury, Pembroke, and Bigot are back on King John's side. King John's son, Prince Henry, is also with them. Hubert explains that Prince Henry is the one who got his father to forgive the rebel lords. The Bastard says, "A lot of weird stuff has been happening. For example, when I was on my way here with a bunch of soldiers, nearly all of them were drowned by the tide. I barely escaped myself; luckily, I had a good horse." The Bastard demands to see the king.

