hown Ganelon how he might be avenged on Roland and on the friends
of Roland, and in a manner which his treachery need never be known,
and very rich were the bribes that he offered to the faithless knight.

Thus it came about that Ganelon sold his honour, and bargained with
the Saracens to betray Roland and his companions into their hands in
their passage of the narrow defiles of Roncesvalles. For more than
fifty pieces of silver Marsile purchased the soul of Ganelon, and when
this Judas of the Douzeperes returned in safety to Cordova, bringing
with him princely gifts for Charlemagne, the keys of Saragossa, and
the promise that in sixteen days Marsile would repair to France to do
homage and to embrace the Christian faith, the Emperor was happy
indeed. All had fallen out as he desired. Ganelon, who had gone forth
in wrath, had returned calm and gallant, and had carried himself
throughout his difficult embassy as a wise statesman and a brave and
loyal soldier.

"Thou hast done well, Ganelon," said the king. "I give thanks to my
God and to thee. Thou shalt be well rewarded."

The order then was speedily given for a return to France, and for ten
miles the great army marched before they halted and encamped for the
night. But when Charlemagne slept, instead of dreams of peace he had
two dreams which disturbed him greatly. In the first, Ganelon roughly
seized the imperial spear of tough ash-wood and it broke into
splinters in his hand. In the next, Charlemagne saw himself attacked
by a leopard and a bear, which tore off his right arm, and as a
greyhound darted to his aid he awoke, and rose from his couch heavy at
heart because of those dreams of evil omen.

In the morning he held a council and reminded his knights of the
dangers of the lonely pass of Roncesvalles. It was a small oval plain,
shut in all round, save on the south where the river found its outlet,
by precipitous mountain ridges densely covered with beech woods.
Mountains ran sheer up to the sky above it, precipices rushed sheer
down below, and the path that crossed the crest of the Pyrenees and
led to it was so narrow that it must be traversed in single file. The
dangers for the rearguard naturally seemed to Charlemagne to be the
greatest, and to his Douzeperes he turned, as before, for counsel.

"Who, then, shall command the rearguard?" he asked. And quickly
Ganelon answered, "Who but Roland? Ever would he seek the post where
danger lies."

And Charlemagne,