ld. But Prince
John saved him that mortification by putting an end to the conflict.

Thus ended the memorable field of Ashby-de-la-Zouche. The Knight of the
Black Armour having disappeared, the Disinherited Knight was named the
champion of the day, and was conducted to the foot of that throne of
honour which was occupied by Lady Rowena. His helmet having been
removed, by order of the marshals, the well-formed, yet sun-burnt
features of a young man of twenty-five were seen, and no sooner had
Rowena beheld him than she uttered a faint shriek. Trembling with the
violence of sudden emotion, she placed upon the drooping head of the
victor the splendid chaplet which was the destined reward of the day.

The Knight stooped his head, and then, sinking down, lay prostrate at
the feet of his lovely sovereign.

There was general consternation. Cedric, struck mute by the sudden
appearance of his banished son, now rushed forward. The marshals
hastened to undo Ivanhoe's armour, and finding that the head of a lance
had penetrated his breastplate and inflicted a wound in his side, he was
quickly removed from the lists.

_III.--The Burning of Torquilstone_

Cedric, Rowena, and Athelstane, returning home with their retinue from
Ashby, were waylaid by Bois-Guilbert and his followers, and boldly
carried off as prisoners to Torquilstone, Front-de-Boeuf's castle. In
those lawless times these Norman nobles trusted thus to obtain a good
ransom for Cedric and Athelstane, and to win Rowena for a bride.
Ivanhoe, who, enfeebled by his wound, lay concealed in a litter, unknown
to his father, was also taken.

But Gurth rallied the Saxon outlaws and yeomen of the neighbourhood to
the rescue, the Black Knight of the tournament led the attacking party,
and in spite of a ferocious defence Torquilstone was stormed. The Black
Knight bore the wounded Ivanhoe in his arms from the burning castle,
Rowena was saved by Cedric and Gurth, just as she had abandoned all
hopes of life.

One turret was now in bright flames, which flashed out furiously from
window and shot hole. But, in other parts, the great thickness of the
walls resisted the progress of the flames, and there the rage of man
still triumphed. The besiegers pursued the defenders of the castle from
chamber to chamber, and satiated in their blood the vengeance which
animated them against the soldiers of the tyrant Front-de-Boeuf. Most of
the garrison resisted to the uttermost--few of them ask