lowing courses they failed to encounter. In the sixth Fabla
encountered his adversary in the breastplate, breaking his lance in the
middle, and the head remained sticking in the armor. They encountered in
the seventh course, and Estuniga's servant, who was in the lists, cried
out, "At him! at him!" The judges commanded his tongue to be cut out,
but at the intercession of those present the sentence was commuted to
thirty blows and imprisonment. They failed to encounter in the eighth
course, but in the ninth Estuniga broke his lance on Fabla's left arm:
the latter failed to encounter, and received a great reverse. After this
they ran nine courses without encountering, but in the nineteenth
Estuniga met Fabla in the plastron, and his lance slipped off on to his
helmet, but did not break, although it pierced the plastron and the iron
remained sticking in it. By this time it had grown so dark that the
judges could not distinguish the good from the bad encounters, and for
this reason they decided that the combat was finished the same as though
three lances had been broken. Estuniga invited Fabla to sup with
Quinones, "and at table there were many knights, and after supper they
danced."

That same day there arrived at the Pass nine knights from Aragon, who
swore that they were gentlemen without reproach. Their spurs were taken
from them, according to the established custom, and hung up in the
judges' stand until they should enter the lists.

The succeeding combats were but repetitions, with trifling variations,
of those just described. From dawn, when the trumpet sounded for battle,
until the evening grew so dark that the judges could not distinguish the
combatants, the defenders maintained the Pass against all comers with
bravery and honor.

The third day there passed near Orbigo two ladies, and the judges sent
the king-at-arms and the herald to ascertain whether they were of noble
birth and provided with knights to represent them in the lists and win
them a passage through Orbigo, and also to request them to give up their
right-hand gloves. The ladies answered that they were noble and were on
a pilgrimage to Santiago; their names were Leonora and Guiomar de la
Vega; the former was married and accompanied by her husband; the latter
was a widow. The king-at-arms then requested their gloves to be kept as
a pledge until some knight should ransom them. Frances Davio, an
Aragonese knight, immediately offered to do combat for the