"Our Rosamund has a brave heart.Well, we are of the same blood, and will not fail her."Now they were come to the open space in front of the narrow bridge, where, tier on tier, the multitude were ranged, kept back from its centre by lines of guards.On the flat roofed houses also they were crowded thick as swarming bees, on the circling walls, and on the battlements that protected the far end of the bridge, and the houses of the outer city.Before the bridge was a low gateway, and upon its roof sat the Al-je-bal, clad in his scarlet robe of festival, and by his side, the moonlight gleaming on her jewels, Rosamund.In front, draped in a rich garment, a dagger of gems in her dark hair, stood the interpreter or "mouth"Masouda, and behind were dais and guards.
The brethren rode to the space before the arch and halted, saluting with their pennoned spears.Then from the further side advanced another procession, which, opening, revealed the knight Lozelle riding on his great black horse, and a huge man and a fierce he seemed in his armour.
"What!" he shouted, glowering at them."Am I to fight one against two? Is this your chivalry?""Nay, nay, Sir Traitor," answered Wulf."Nay, nay betrayer of Christian maids to the power of the heathen dog; you have fought Godwin, now it is the turn of Wulf.Kill Wulf and Godwin remains.
Kill Godwin and God remains.Knave, you look your last upon the moon."Lozelle heard, and seemed to go mad with rage, or fear, or both.
"Lord Sinan," he shouted in Arabic, "this is murder.Am I, who have done you so much service, to be butchered for your pleasure by the lovers of that woman, whom you would honour with the name of wife?"Sinan heard, and stared at him with dull, angry eyes.
"Ay, you may stare, "went on the maddened Lozelle, "but it is true--they are her lovers, not her brothers.Would men take so much pains for a sister's sake, think you? Would they swim into this net of yours for a sister's sake?"Sinan held up his hand for silence.
"Let the lots be cast," he said, "for whatever these men are, this fight must go on, and it shall be fair."So a dai, standing by himself, cast lots upon the ground, and having read them, announced that Lozelle must run the first course from the further side of the bridge.Then one took his bridle to lead him across.As he passed the brethren he grinned in their faces and said:
"At least this is sure, you also look your last upon the moon.Iam avenged already.The bait that hooked me is a meal for yonder pike, and he will kill you both before her eyes to whet his appetite."But the brethren answered nothing.
The black horse of Lozelle grew dim in the distance of the moonlit bridge, and vanished beneath the farther archway that led to the outer city.Then a herald cried, Masouda translating his words, which another herald echoed from beyond the gulf.
"Thrice will the trumpets blow.At the third blast of the trumpets the knights shall charge and meet in the centre of the bridge.Thenceforward they may fight as it pleases them, ahorse, or afoot, with lance, with sword, or with dagger, but to the vanquished no mercy will be shown.If he be brought living from the bridge, living he shall be cast into the gulf.Hear the decree of the Al-je-bal!"Then Wulf's horse was led forward to the entrance of the bridge, and from the further side was led forward the horse of Lozelle.
"Good luck, brother," said Godwin, as he passed him."Would that I rode this course instead of you.""Your turn may come, brother," answered the grim Wulf, as he set his lance in rest.
Now from some neighbouring tower pealed out the first long blast of trumpets, and dead silence fell on all the multitude.Grooms came forward to look to girth and bridle and stirrup strap, but Wulf waved them back.
"I mind my own harness," he said.
The second blast blew, and he loosened the great sword in its scabbard, that sword which had flamed in his forbear's hand upon the turrets of Jerusalem.
"Your gift," he cried back to Rosamund, and her answer came clear and sweet:
"Bear it like your fathers, Wulf.Bear it as it was last borne in the hall at Steeple."Then there was another silence--a silence long and deep.Wulf looked at the white and narrow ribbon of the bridge, looked at the black gulf on either side, looked at the blue sky above, in which floated the great globe of the golden moon.Then he leant forward and patted Smoke upon the neck.
For the third time the trumpets blew, and from either end of that bridge, two hundred paces long, the knights flashed towards each other like living bolts of steel.The multitude rose to watch;even Sinan rose.Only Rosamund sat still, gripping the cushions with her hands.Hollow rang the hoofs of the horses upon the stonework, swifter and swifter they flew, lower and lower bent the knights upon their saddles.Now they were near, and now they met.The spears seemed to shiver, the horses to hustle together on the narrow way and overhang its edge, then on came the black horse towards the inner city, and on sped Smoke towards the further gulf.
"They have passed! They have passed!" roared the multitude.
Look! Lozelle approached, reeling in his saddle, as well he might, for the helm was torn from his head and blood ran from his skull where the lance had grazed it.
"Too high, Wulf; too high," said Godwin sadly."But oh! if those laces had but held!"Soldiers caught the horse and turned it.
"Another helm!" cried Lozelle.
"Nay," answered Sinan; "yonder knight has lost his shield.New lances--that is all."So they gave him a fresh lance, and, presently, at the blast of the trumpets again the horses were seen speeding together over the narrow way.They met, and lo! Lozelle, torn from his saddle, but still clinging to the reins, was flung backwards, far backwards, to fall on the stonework of the bridge.Down, too, beneath the mighty shock went his black horse, a huddled heap, and lay there struggling.
