upon the two shields of either, and
shivered, splintered, shattered into ten hundred thousand pieces, which
whirled through the air here and there, among the rocks, or in the
trees, or in the river. The two horses fell back trembling on their
haunches, where they remained for half a minute or so.

"Holy Buffo! a brave stroke!" said the old hermit. "Marry, but a
splinter wellnigh took off my nose!" The honest hermit waved his pipe
in delight, not perceiving that one of the splinters had carried off the
head of it, and rendered his favorite amusement impossible. "Ha! they
are to it again! O my! how they go to with their great swords! Well
stricken, gray! Well parried, piebald! Ha, that was a slicer! Go it,
piebald! go it, gray!--go it, gray! go it, pie--Peccavi! peccavi!" said
the old man, here suddenly closing his eyes, and falling down on his
knees. "I forgot I was a man of peace." And the next moment, muttering
a hasty matin, he sprung down the ledge of rock, and was by the side of
the combatants.

The battle was over. Good knight as Sir Gottfried was, his strength
and skill had not been able to overcome Sir Ludwig the Hombourger, with
RIGHT on his side. He was bleeding at every point of his armor: he had
been run through the body several times, and a cut in tierce, delivered
with tremendous dexterity, had cloven the crown of his helmet of
Damascus steel, and passing through the cerebellum and sensorium, had
split his nose almost in twain.

His mouth foaming--his face almost green--his eyes full of blood--his
brains spattered over his forehead, and several of his teeth knocked
out,--the discomfited warrior presented a ghastly spectacle, as, reeling
under the effects of the last tremendous blow which the Knight of
Hombourg dealt, Sir Gottfried fell heavily from the saddle of his
piebald charger; the frightened animal whisked his tail wildly with a
shriek and a snort, plunged out his hind legs, trampling for one moment
upon the feet of the prostrate Gottfried, thereby causing him to shriek
with agony, and then galloped away riderless.

Away! ay, away!--away amid the green vineyards and golden cornfields;
away up the steep mountains, where he frightened the eagles in their
eyries; away down the clattering ravines, where the flashing cataracts
tumble; away through the dark pine-forests, where the hungry wolves are
howling away over the dreary wolds, where the wild wind walks alone;
away through the plashing quagmires,