r, more or less, for my soul."

When Sir Gawaine had finished this letter he wept bitter tears of sorrow
and remorse, and Arthur wept beside him till they both swooned, the one
from grief, the other from pain. When they recovered, the king had the
rites of the church administered to the dying knight, who then prayed
him to send in haste for Lancelot, and to cherish him above all other
knights, as his best friend and ally.

Afterwards, at the hour of noon, Gawaine yielded up his spirit. And the
king had him interred in Dover castle, where men to this day may see his
skull, with the wound thereon that Lancelot gave him in battle.

Word was now brought to King Arthur that Mordred had pitched a new camp
on Barham Down. Thither in all haste he led his army, and there a second
great battle was fought, with much loss on both sides. But at the end
Arthur's party stood best, and Mordred fled, with all his host, to
Canterbury.

This second victory changed the feeling of the country, and many people
who had held aloof joined the king's army, saying that Mordred was a
traitor and usurper. When the dead had been buried and the wounded cared
for, Arthur marched with his host to the sea-shore, westward towards
Salisbury. Here a challenge passed between him and Mordred, in which
they agreed to meet on a down beside Salisbury, on the day after Trinity
Sunday, and there fight out their quarrel.

Mordred now made haste to recruit his army, raising many men about
London, for the people of that section of the country held largely with
him, and particularly those who were friendly to Lancelot. When the time
fixed came near, the two armies drew together and camped on Salisbury
Down.

And so the days passed till came the night of Trinity Sunday, when the
king dreamed a strange dream, for it seemed to him that he sat in a
chair that was fastened to a wheel, and was covered with the richest
cloth of gold that could be made. But far beneath him he beheld a
hideous black pool, in which were all manner of serpents, and vile
worms, foul and horrible. Suddenly the wheel seemed to turn, and he fell
among the serpents, which seized upon his limbs.

Awakening in fright, he loudly cried, "Help!" and knights and squires
came crowding in alarm into his chamber; but he was so amazed that he
knew not where he was nor what he said.

Then he fell again into a half slumber, in which Gawaine seemed to come
to him attended by a number of fair ladies.