f it,
the leader, after one ineffectual thrust at his antagonist, wheeled
his horse round and, with a cry to the other to follow him, dashed off
down the road in the same direction that the man who had skulked all
through the fight had taken.

Yet such an order was more easily given than obeyed, since, at the
moment he uttered it, Boussac had by a clever parry sent the other's
sword flying out of his hand, while, an instant afterward, he dealt
him such a buffet with his own gantleted hand as knocked him off his
horse on to the top of those lying on the ground beneath.

CHAPTER VI.

A LITTLE LIGHT.

The first thought of both the victors was to see to the child, who,
while still screaming piteously, was unharmed--though a deep cut in
St. Georges's sleeve and, as he afterward found, a slight sword thrust
in the forearm, showed how great had been her peril and how near her
little body to being pierced by one of the ruffians' swords. Still she
was safe, untouched, and her father muttered a hasty thanksgiving to
God as he found such was the case.

Then they addressed themselves to Boussac's vanquished antagonist--the
last living and remaining remnant of their foes. For of those who had
been overcome earlier in the fray, all three were dead, lying stark
and stiff on the frozen ground across the graves where they had
fallen. As for him, the living one, he presented as ghastly a
spectacle as they who were gone to their doom--sitting up as he now
did, and endeavouring to stanch the blood that flowed from his lips
and nose in consequence of the blow dealt him by Boussac.

"Stand up," said St. Georges, as he towered over him, his drawn sword
in his hand, while by the light of the moon, such as it was, he was
able to see the fellow's face. "Stand up and answer my questions."

"What are you going to do to me?" asked the man, staggering to his
feet at the other's command.

"Hang you to the nearest tree," replied St. Georges, "in all
likelihood. Especially if you trifle with me. I will have the truth
from you somehow. Now, _spadassin_, the meaning of this attack.
Quick!"

"Monsieur, I know no more than you--monsieur, I----"

"No lies. Answer!" and he lifted his arm and drew his sword back as
though about to plunge it into the other's throat. "Answer, I say! Who
are you all, you and this carrion here?" and he spurned the dead with
his foot. "Above all, who is the fellow in the antique morion, the man
who takes doub