ght, who was sitting his charger at the
further end of the arena.

"Is this indeed sooth?" he exclaimed.

"It is, my lord, and I swear it by St. Ives of Brittany."

"I might have known it," said Chandos, twisting his moustache, and still
looking thoughtfully at the cavalier.

"What then, Sir John?" asked the prince.

"Sire, this is a knight whom it is indeed great honor to meet, and I
would that your grace would grant me leave to send my squire for my
harness, for I would dearly love to run a course with him.

"Nay, nay, Sir John, you have gained as much honor as one man can bear,
and it were hard if you could not rest now. But I pray you, squire, to
tell your master that he is very welcome to our court, and that wines
and spices will be served him, if he would refresh himself before
jousting."

"My master will not drink," said the squire.

"Let him then name the gentleman with whom he would break a spear."

"He would contend with these five knights, each to choose such weapons
as suit him best."

"I perceive," said the prince, "that your master is a man of great heart
and high of enterprise. But the sun already is low in the west, and
there will scarce be light for these courses. I pray you, gentlemen, to
take your places, that we may see whether this stranger's deeds are as
bold as his words."

The unknown knight had sat like a statue of steel, looking neither to
the right nor to the left during these preliminaries. He had changed
from the horse upon which he had ridden, and bestrode the black charger
which his squire had led beside him. His immense breadth, his stern
composed appearance, and the mode in which he handled his shield and his
lance, were enough in themselves to convince the thousands of critical
spectators that he was a dangerous opponent. Aylward, who stood in
the front row of the archers with Simon, big John, and others of the
Company, had been criticising the proceedings from the commencement with
the ease and freedom of a man who had spent his life under arms and had
learned in a hard school to know at a glance the points of a horse and
his rider. He stared now at the stranger with a wrinkled brow and the
air of a man who is striving to stir his memory.

"By my hilt! I have seen the thick body of him before to-day. Yet I
cannot call to mind where it could have been. At Nogent belike, or was
it at Auray? Mark me, lads, this man will prove to be one of the best
lances of France, and ther