r."

"Never mind the color of my eyes--let's get out of here."

She seemed to make up her mind about something. "An ye will follow me,
sir knight," she said, and started down the corridor.

* * * * *

A ramp, the entrance of which was camouflaged by a rotating section of
the inner castle wall, gave access to the subterranean passage. The
passage itself, in the flickering light of the torch that the girl had
brought along, appeared at first to be nothing more than a natural
cave enlarged through the centuries by the stream that still flowed
down its center. Presently, however, Mallory saw that in certain
places the stone walls had been cut back in such a way that the space
on either side of the stream never narrowed to a width of less than
four feet. He saw other evidence of human handiwork too--dungeons.
They were little more than shallow caves now, though, their iron
gratings having rusted and fallen away.

After proceeding half a hundred yards, he paused. "I don't know what
we're walking for when we've got a perfectly good horse at our
disposal," he told the girl. "Come on, I'll help you into the saddle
and I'll jump on behind."

She shook her head. "No, fair knight, it is not fitting for a
gentlewoman to ride tofore her champion. Ye will mount, and I will
ride behind."

"Suit yourself," Mallory said. He climbed into the saddle with a clank
and a clatter, and helped her up on Easy Money's croup. "By the way,
you never did tell me your name."

"I hight the damosel Rowena."

"Pleased to meet you," Mallory said. _Giddy-ap, Easy Money_, he
encephalopathed.

They rode in silence for a little while, the light from Rowena's torch
dancing acappella rigadoons on bare walls and dripping ceilings, Easy
Money's hoofbeats hardly audible above the purling of the stream.
Presently Rowena said, "It were best that ye drew out thy sword, fair
sir, for anon the fiend will beset us."

"He hasn't beset us yet," Mallory pointed out.

"La! fair sir, he will."

He saw no harm in humoring her, and did as she had suggested. "You
mentioned something a while back about having been given guardianship
of the Sangraal at your own request," he said. "How did that come
about?"

"List, fair sir, and I will tell ye. But first I must tell ye of Sir
Bors de Ganis, of which Sir Lionel is brother. It happed one day that
Sir Bors did ride into a forest in the Kingdom of Mennes unto the hour
of midday, and t