e fortune of Tartarin that with his lance he forced in
Bayard's arm-piece, and every one thought that he had his arm pierced. But
he was not hurt, and succeeded in returning the attack by a stroke above
the visor, which carried off the bunch of plumes from his adversary's
helmet. The third bout with the lance was as good or even better than the
others, for the lance was more completely shivered into fragments.

When these two knights had finished, next came the lord of Bellabre, and
against him a Scotch man-at-arms, named the Captain David of Fougas, and
these likewise did with their three jousts of the lance all that it was
possible for gentlemen to do. Thus, two by two, all the company went
through the same contest.

This jousting with the lance was one of the most popular exercises for
knights of that day, and the proper use of this weapon was one of the most
important accomplishments for a warrior. We shall often notice, in the
accounts of Bayard's adventures on the field of battle, how extremely
expert he was with his lance. The supreme triumph with this weapon was to
use such skill and force as to break the lance shaft--made of ash or
sycamore--into as many pieces as possible; in fact, to "shiver" it
completely, and thus break as many lances as possible. The tilting lance
was often made hollow, and was from 12 to 15 feet long; but the lance used
with the object of unhorsing instead of splintering was much stronger,
heavier, and thicker in the stem, and instead of a pointed head had a
"coronal," which was blunt.

The first part of the tournament having come to an end, then followed the
battle of the swords. According to the rules, this began with Bayard, who,
on the third stroke he gave, broke his sword into two pieces, but he made
such good use of the stump that he went through the number of strokes
commanded, and did his duty so well that no man could have done better.
After this came the others according to their order, and for the rest of
that day there was such a succession of vigorous fighting that the two
judges declared "never had there been finer lance work or contests with the
sword." When the evening came they retired to young Bayard's lodging, where
a great supper was prepared, to which came many ladies, for within ten
miles round all those of Picardy, or the greater number, had come to see
this fine tournament. After the supper there were dances and other
entertainments, and the company was so well am