hundred men-at-arms and as many hobblers, that you may ride round the
mound yonder, and so fall upon them unseen. Let all that are left of the
archers gather on each side, shoot away their arrows, and then fight
as best they may. Wait till they are past yonder thorn-bush and then,
Walter, bear my banner straight against that of the King of France. Fair
sirs, may God and the thought of your ladies hold high your hearts!"

The French monarch, seeing that his footmen had made no impression upon
the English, and also that the hedge had been well-nigh leveled to the
ground in the course of the combat, so that it no longer presented an
obstacle, had ordered his followers to remount their horses, and it was
as a solid mass of cavalry that the chivalry of France advanced to
their last supreme effort. The King was in the center of the front
line, Geoffrey de Chargny with the golden oriflamme upon his right, and
Eustace de Ribeaumont with the royal lilies upon the left. At his elbow
was the Duke of Athens, High Constable of France, and round him were the
nobles of the court, fiery and furious, yelling their warcries as they
waved their weapons over their heads. Six thousand gallant men of
the bravest race in Europe, men whose very names are like blasts of
a battle-trumpet--Beaujeus and Chatillons, Tancarvilles and
Ventadours--pressed hard behind the silver lilies.

Slowly they moved at first, walking their horses that they might be the
fresher for the shock. Then they broke into a trot which was quickening
into a gallop when the remains of the hedge in front of them was
beaten in an instant to the ground and the broad line of the steel-clad
chivalry of England swept grandly forth to the final shock. With loose
rein and busy spur the two lines of horsemen galloped at the top of
their speed straight and hard for each other. An instant later they
met with a thunder-crash which was heard by the burghers on the wall of
Poitiers, seven good miles away.

Under that frightful impact horses fell dead with broken necks, and many
a rider, held in his saddle by the high pommel, fractured his thighs
with the shock. Here and there a pair met breast to breast, the horses
rearing straight upward and falling back upon their masters. But for the
most part the line had opened in the gallop, and the cavaliers, flying
through the gaps, buried themselves in the enemy's ranks. Then the
flanks shredded out, and the thick press in the center loosened un