Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-25

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dark shadow of their helmets. So for an
instant they stood glaring and crouching
Then with loud cry of "AHesi" the herald
dropped his appraised hand, and the two lines
of men shuffied as fast as their heavy armor
would permit until they met with a sharp
clang of metal in the middle of the field. There
was a sound as of sixty smiths working upon
their anvils Then the babel of yells and
shouts from the spectators cheering this
party or that rose and sweed until even the
uproar of the combat was drowned in that
mighty surge.
So eager were the conbatants to engage that
in few moments all order had been lost and
the two bands were mixed up in one furious
scrambling, gathering throng, each man tossed
hther and thither thrown against adver-
Sary and then against another beaten and
hustled and buffeted, with only the one
thought IN his mind to thrust with his spear
or to beat with his ak against anyone who came
within the narrow slit of vision left by his vizor
But alas for Nigel and his hopes of some
great deedl His at least the fate OF the
brave for he was the first to fall. With high
heart he had placed himself IN the line as
nearly opposite to Beaumanoir he could.
and had made straight for the Breton leader,
remembering that in the outset the quarrel
had been so ordered that it lay between them,
But ere he could reach his goal he was caught
in the swirl OF his own comrades, and being
the lighter man was swept aside and dashed
into the arms of Alain de karanais the left
handed swordsman with such crash that
the two rolled upon the ground together
Light-footed a cat, Nigel had sprung up
first, and was STOPPING over the Breton
Squire when the powerful dwarf Raguenal
brought his mace thudding down upon the
exposed back of his helmet. With a groan
Nigel fell upon his face, blood gushing from
his mouth, nose and ears. There he lay
trampled over by either party, while that
great fight for which his fiery soul had painted
was swaying back and forward above his
unconscious form.
But Nigel was not long unavenged. The
huge iron club of Belford struck the dwarf
Raguenal to the ground, while Belford in
turn was felled by sweeping blow from Beau
MANOR. Sometimes a dozen were on the
ground at one time, but 50 strong was the
armor and so deity was the force of blow
broken by guard and shield, that the stricken
men were often pulled to their feet once more
by their comrades and were able to continue
the fight.
Some, however, were beyond all aid. Gro
quart had cut at a Breton knight named Jean
Rousselot and had shOrn away his shoulder
piece, exposing his neck and the upper part
of his arm. Nainly he tried to cover this vul-
nerable surface with his shield. 1t was his
right side, and he could not stretch 1t far
enough across, nor could he get away on
account of the press of men around him. For
a time he held his foenen at bay, but that bare
patch of white shoulder was mark for every
weapon, until at last a Ratchet sank up to
the socket in the knights chest. Almost at the
same moment q second Breton, a young
Squire named Godfrey Mellon, was slain by
a thrust from Black Simon which found the
weak spot beneath the armpit. Three other
Bretons Yves Cheruel, Caro- de Bodegat and
Tristan de Pestivien the first two knights
and the latter a Squire, became separated from
their comrades, and were beaten to the ground
with English all around them so that they had
to choose betwiXt instant death and surrender
They handed their swords to Bambro' and
stood apart, each of them sorely wounded,
watching with hot and bitter hearts the melee
which still surged up and down the field.
But now the combat had lasted half an hour
without stint or rest until the warriors were
so exhausted with the burden of their armor
the loss of blood, the shock of blows, and their
own furious exertions, that they could scarce
totter or raise their weapons. There must be
pause if the combat was to have any decisive
end. "Cessesi CeSsegi RetVezi cried the
herads, as they spurred their horses between
the exhausted men.
Copyright in Great Britain. All rights reserved
To be continued next Sunday