ed, meant to declare open war against his
royal cousin and benefactor.

"One night King Arthur sat at the Round Table in Tintagel Castle with
his knights gathered round him, and Queen Guenever with her maidens by
his side. At the beginning of the feast the king's brow was clouded,
for, although there was no lack of merriment or song, there was a want
of the free-hearted courtesy and confidence of former days. Still the
semblance of unabated good-fellowship was kept up, and the evening
passed in gaiety until its close, when the king rose to retire. Taking
in his hand a golden cup to pledge his guests, he was about to drink,
when a shudder passed through his frame, and he cast the goblet away,
exclaiming, `It is not wine, but blood! My father Merlin is among us,
and there is evil in the coming days. Break we up our court, my peers!
It is no time for feasting, but rather for fasting and for prayer.'

"The king glanced with a dark frown at the chair of his kinsman Mordred,
but it was not empty! A strange, indistinct, shadowy form rested on it.
It had no human shape, but a dreadful outline of something unearthly.
Awe-struck and silent, the company at once broke up.

"On the following day, news of Mordred's revolt arrived at Tintagel
Castle, and day after day fresh rumours reached it of foes flocking in
numbers to the rebel standard. The army increased as it advanced, but,
strange to say, King Arthur showed no disposition to sally forth and
meet the traitor. It seemed as if his brave heart had quailed at last,
and his good sword Excalibur had lost its magic virtue. Some thought
that he doubted the fidelity of those who still remained around him.
But, whatever the cause might have been, King Arthur made no
preparation, and indicated no feeling or intention. He lay still in his
castle until the rebels had approached to the very gates. There was
something terrible in this mysterious silence of the king, which had a
tendency to overawe the rebels as they drew near, and remembered that
they were about to match themselves against warriors who had grown old
in fellowship with victory.

"When the main body of the invaders appeared, the great bell of the
fortress at last rang out a stirring peal, and before the barbican the
trumpets sounded to horse. King Arthur then with his knights and
men-at-arms, the best warriors of Britain, arose and sallied forth to
fight in their last battle.

"Next evening a broken band of ho