d the
house, with the Earl Dwrm at their head. "Where is the knight that was
here?" said the Earl. "By thy hand," said he, "he went hence some time
ago." "Wherefore, villain," said he, "didst thou let him go without
informing me?" "My Lord, thou didst not command me to do so, else would
I not have allowed him to depart." "What way dost thou think that he
took?" "I know not, except that he went along the high road." And they
turned their horses' heads that way, and seeing the tracks of the horses
upon the high road, they followed. And when the maiden beheld the
dawning of the day, she looked behind her, and saw vast clouds of dust
coming nearer and nearer to her. And thereupon she became uneasy, and
she thought that it was the Earl and his host coming after them. And
thereupon she beheld a knight appearing through the mist. "By my faith,"
said she, "though he should slay me, it were better for me to receive my
death at his hands, than to see him killed without warning him." "My
Lord," she said to him, "seest thou yonder man hastening after thee, and
many others with him?" "I do see him," said he, "and in despite of all
my orders, I see that thou wilt never keep silence." Then he turned upon
the knight, and with the first thrust he threw him down under his horse's
feet. And as long as there remained one of the fourscore knights, he
overthrew every one of them at the first onset. And from the weakest to
the strongest, they all attacked him one after the other, except the
Earl: and last of all the Earl came against him also. And he broke his
lance, and then he broke a second. But Geraint turned upon him, and
struck him with his lance upon the centre of his shield, so that by that
single thrust the shield was split, and all his armour broken, and he
himself was brought over his horse's crupper to the ground, and was in
peril of his life. And Geraint drew near to him; and at the noise of the
trampling of his horse the Earl revived. "Mercy, Lord," said he to
Geraint. And Geraint granted him mercy. But through the hardness of the
ground where they had fallen, and the violence of the stroke which they
had received, there was not a single knight amongst them that escaped
without receiving a fall, mortally severe, and grievously painful, and
desperately wounding, from the hand of Geraint.

{Picture: p48.jpg}

And Geraint journeyed along the high road that was before him, and the
maiden went on first; and nea