see his face for the
last time, and if he still lives----"

Dick obeyed, cutting the lashings of the helm.

"By the Saints!" he said presently in a startled voice, "if this be Sir
Edmund Acour he has strangely changed."

"I am not Acour, lord of Noyon," said the dying man in a hollow voice.
"Had you given me time I would have told you so."

"Then, in Christ's name, who are you?" asked Hugh, "that wear de Noyon's
cognizance?"

"I am Pierre de la Roche, one of his knights. You have seen me in
England. I was with him there, and you made me prisoner on Dunwich
heath. He bade me change arms with him before the battle, promising me
great reward, because he knew that if he were taken, Edward of England
would hang him as a traitor, whereas me they might ransom. Also, he
feared your vengeance."

"Well, of a truth, you have the reward," said Dick, looking at his
ghastly wound.

"Where then is Acour?" gasped Hugh.

"I know not. He fled from the battle an hour ago with the King of
France, but I who was doomed would not fly. Oh, that I could find a
priest to shrive me!"

"Whither does he fly?" asked Hugh again.

"I know not. He said that if the battle went against us he would seek
his castle in Italy, where Edward cannot reach him."

"What armour did he wear?" asked Dick.

"Mine, mine--a wolf upon his shield, a wolf's head for crest."

Hugh reeled as though an arrow had passed through him.

"The wolf knight, Acour!" he groaned. "And I spared his life."

"A very foolish deed, for which you now pay the price," said Dick, as
though to himself.

"We met in the battle and he told me," said de la Roche, speaking very
slowly, for he grew weak. "Yes, he told me and laughed. Truly we are
Fate's fools, all of us," and he smiled a ghastly smile and died.

Hugh hid his face in his hands and sobbed in his helpless rage.

"The innocent slain," he said, "by me, and the guilty spared--by me. Oh,
God! my cup is full. Take his arms, man, that one day I may show them to
Acour, and let us be going ere we share this poor knight's fate. Ah!
who could have guessed it was thus that I and Sir Pierre should meet and
part again."

CHAPTER X

THE KING'S CHAMPION

Back over that fearful field, whereof the silence was broken only by
the groans of the wounded and the dying, walked Hugh and Grey Dick. They
came to the great rampart of dead men and horses that surrounded the
English line, and climbed it as though it were a wall. On