Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1906-08-17

AHu lHe OHe upon The rlSQIS
1T marks the Knights Of Santiago and
L see by the banner that the grand mas
ter rides at their head
You are right, for 1 can also see
| them. There is much Spanish blazonry
also if 1 could but read it. Don Diego,
you know the arms of your own country,
and who are they who have done US so
much honor?"
| The Spanish prisoner looked with exul-
tant eyes upon the deep and serried ranks
of his countrymen.
''By Saint James, he said, "if We fail
this day, We fall by no mean hands for
the flower of the army of CASTLE ride
under the banner of Don Tello, with the
chivalry Of Asturias, Toledo, Leon, Cor
dova, Galicia and Seville and the knights
OF France and Aragon. If you will take
my rede, you will come to a COMPOST
ton with them. for they will give you
such terms as you have given me-"
| Nay, by Saint Paul, it were pity if
so many brave men, were drawn together
and no little deed of arms come of it. Ha!
| William, they advance upon US, and by
my soul it is sight worth coming over
the seas to witness''
AS he spoke the two wings of the Span
ish host, consisting of the Knights of
| Calatrava on the one side and of Santiago
| on the other came swooping swiftly down
|
more slowly behind. The vanguard halted
a long bow-shot from the hill, and with
| waving spears and Wanting shouts chal-
lenged their enemies to come forth, while
two cavaliers, pricking forward from the
glittering ranks, walked their horses slow
| ly between the two arrays with targets
braced and lances in rest like the chal-
lengers in a tourney.
| BY Saint Paul!' cried Sir Nigel, with
his eye glowing like an ember, ''these
appear to be two very worthy and debo-
nair gentlemen. I do not call to mind
when 1 have seen any people who seemed
or so great a heart and so high of enter
prise. We have our horses, Sir William:
shall be not relieve them of any vow which
| they may have upon their soulsT'
| Felton's reply was to bound upon his
charger, and to urge it down the slope,
while Sir Nigel followed not three spear s.
lengths behind him. 1t was a rugged
course, rocky and uneven, yet the two
knights, choosing their men, dashed on
wards at the top of their speed while
the gallant Spaniards few as swiftly to
meet them. The one to whom FELTON,
found himself opposed was a tall STRIPPING
with stays head upon his shield, while
Sir Nigel's man was broad and squat, with
plain steel harness, and pink and white
| Torso bound round his helmet. The first
struck FELTON, on the target with such
force as to split it from side to side, but
| Sir Williams lance crashed through the
| CANAL which shielded the Spaniard's
throat, and he fell, screaming hoarsely, to
the ground. Carried away by the heat and
madness Of fight, the English knight never
| drew rein, but charged straight on into the
array of the Knights of Calatrava Long
time the silent ranks upon the hill could
see swirl land eddy deep down in the
heart of the Spanish column, with a
circle of rearing chargers and flashing
| 6nd 1arA nr,1
plume of the English helmet, rising and
falling like the foam upon a wave, with
the fierce CLEAN and sparkle ever circling
round 1t, until at last it had sunk from
view, and another brave man had turned
war to peace.
Sir Nigel, meanwhile, had found a foe
man worthy of his steel, for his opponent
was none other than Sebastian Gomez, the
picked lance of the monkish Knights of
| Santiago, who had won fame in a. hun
| dred bloody combats with the Moors OF
Andalusia. So fierce was their meeting
that their spears shivered up to the very
grasp, and the horses reared backwards
until 1t seemed that they must crash down
upon their riders. Yet with consummate
horsemanship they both swung round in
long curvet, and then plucking out their
| swords they lashed at each other like two
lusty smiths hammering upon their anvil. |
The chargers spun round each others, Bit
ing and striking, while the two blades
wheeled and whizzed and circled in CLEANS
of dazzling light. Cut, parry, and thrust
followed SO swiftly upon each others that
the eye could not follow them, until at
last coming thigh to thigh, they cast their
arms around each other and rolled of
| their saddles to the ground. The heavier
Spaniard threw himself upon his enemy,
and pinning him down beneath him raised
his sword to Stay him, while shout of
| triumph rose from the ranks of his count
rymen. But the fatal blow never fell, for
even as his arm Quivered before descend
ing, the Spaniard gave a shudder, and
stiffening himself, rolled heavily over upon
his side, with the blood gushing from his
arm-pit and from the slit Of his vizor. Sir
| Nigel sprang to his feet with his bloody
dagger in his left hand and gazed down
upon his adversary, but the fatal and
sudden stab in the vital spot, which the
| Spaniard had exposed by raising his arm,
had proved instantly mortal. The Eng
lishman leaped upon his horse and made
of rage from q thousand voices and the
clang of score Of bugles announced the
| Spanish onset.
CHAPTER XVII.
But the islanders were ready and eager
for the encounter. With feet firmly
planted, their sleeves rolled back to give
| free play to their muscles, their long
yellow bow-staves in their left hands, and
their quivers slung to the front, they had
waited in the four-deep harrow formation
which gave strength to their array, and
yet permitted every man to draw his arrow
| freely without harm to those in front.
| On swept the Spaniards, over the level
and up to the slope, ere they met the
binding storm of the English arrows.
Down went the whole ranks in a whirl
of mad confusion, horses plunging and
kicking, bewildered men falling, rising,
staggering on or back, while ever new
| lines of horsemen came squirting through
the gaps and urged their chargers up the
| fatal slope. All around him, Alleyne could
| hear the stern, short orders of the master
| bowmen, while the air was filled with
the keen twanging of the strings and the
swish and patter of the shafts. Right