From
all sides, with cries of dismay, with oaths and shouts and
ejaculations to the saints, the horsemen ride wildly in. Was ever
so dreadful, so sudden, so complete, an end to a gentle passage at
arms? Surely their eyes must be at fault? Some wizard's trick
has been played upon them to deceive their senses. But no, it was
only too clear. There on the greensward lay the trunk of the
stricken cavalier, and there, a good dozen yards beyond, lay his
helmeted head.
"By the Virgin!" cried Manny wildly, as he jumped from his horse,
"I would give my last gold piece that the work of this evening
should be undone! How came it? What does it mean? Hither, my
Lord Bishop, for surely it smacks of witchcraft and the Devil."
With a white face the Bishop had sprung down beside the prostrate
body, pushing through the knot of horrified knights and squires.
"I fear that the last offices of the Holy Church come too late,"
said he in a quivering voice. "Most unfortunate young man! How
sudden an end! In medio vitae, as the Holy Book has it--one
moment in the pride of his youth, the next his head torn from his
body. Now God and his saints have mercy upon me and guard me from
evil!"
The last prayer was shot out of the Bishop with an energy and
earnestness unusual in his orisons. It was caused by the sudden
outcry of one of the Squires who, having lifted the helmet from
the ground, cast it down again with a scream of horror.
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