and he who is
judged best of the other party hath a jewelled clasp. Shall I order that
the nakirs sound, sire?"

The prince nodded, and the trumpets rang out, while the champions rode
forth one after the other, each meeting his opponent in the centre of
the lists. Sir William Beauchamp went down before the practiced lance
of the Captal de Buch. Sir Thomas Percy won the vantage over the Lord
of Mucident, and the Lord Audley struck Sir Perducas d'Albret from
the saddle. The burly De Clisson, however, restored the hopes of the
attackers by beating to the ground Sir Thomas Wake of Yorkshire. So far,
there was little to choose betwixt challengers and challenged.

"By Saint James of Santiago!" cried Don Pedro, with a tinge of color
upon his pale cheeks, "win who will, this has been a most notable
contest."

"Who comes next for England, John?" asked the prince in a voice which
quivered with excitement.

"Sir Nigel Loring of Hampshire, sire."

"Ha! he is a man of good courage, and skilled in the use of all
weapons."

"He is indeed, sire. But his eyes, like my own, are the worse for wars.
Yet he can tilt or play his part at hand-strokes as merrily as ever. It
was he, sire, who won the golden crown which Queen Philippa, your royal
mother, gave to be jousted for by all the knights of England after
the harrying of Calais. I have heard that at Twynham Castle there is a
buffet which groans beneath the weight of his prizes."

"I pray that my vase may join them," said the prince. "But here is the
cavalier of Germany, and by my soul! he looks like a man of great valor
and hardiness. Let them run their full three courses, for the issue is
over-great to hang upon one."

As the prince spoke, amid a loud flourish of trumpets and the shouting
of the Gascon party, the last of the assailants rode gallantly into the
lists. He was a man of great size, clad in black armor without blazonry
or ornament of any kind, for all worldly display was forbidden by the
rules of the military brotherhood to which he belonged. No plume or
nobloy fluttered from his plain tilting salade, and even his lance was
devoid of the customary banderole. A white mantle fluttered behind him,
upon the left side of which was marked the broad black cross picked
out with silver which was the well-known badge of the Teutonic Order.
Mounted upon a horse as large, as black, and as forbidding as himself,
he cantered slowly forward, with none of those prancings and gambade