ell, and, only half diverted, rattled on the Don's breastplate, hard
enough to fell and draw blood, though, happily, not hard enough to kill.

After that, Ludar and I had a merry time of it, with our backs against
the rock, and four swords hacking at our two. I know not how it was;
but as I found myself thus foot to foot again with my dearest friend,
listening to his short, sharp battle snort, and seeing ever and anon the
flash of his trusty steel at my side, I felt happy, and could have
wished the battle to last an hour. I forgot all about my Queen, and,
but for sundry knocks and cuts, had half forgotten my adversaries
themselves. Nor were they any the better off for my daydream; for the
four swords against us presently became but two, and these ere long were
in the hands of flying men.

When we had leisure to look at one another and see how we stood, we
found we had been playing no child's play. Ludar was pale, his sleeve
was bloody, and his sword broken in two. As for me, drops were
trickling through my hair and down my cheek, and I needed no astronomer
to tell me the earth turned round. But the Don, when we came to him,
was in a worse plight yet. For he lay where he had fallen, white as a
marble statue, his eyes closed, his breath coming and going in quick,
short gasps. As best we could we tore off his breastplate, and looked
to the wound beneath. 'Twas but a gash, the ball having grazed the ribs
and flattened itself on the steel beyond. But the blood he had lost
thereby, and the feebleness of his ill-nourished body, made it more
dangerous a wound by far than our vulgar scratches.

We caught the Englishman's riderless horse, which grazed quietly near,
and laid the gallant gently on his back; and so, painfully and slowly,
brought him off.

Even as we did so, we could see on the crest of the far hills behind the
figures of men on foot and horse moving our way; and, nearer at hand,
when we stood and halted a moment, the sound of a trumpet broke the air.

There was no time to lose, verily, if these worn-out Dons were to leave
the place alive. And as for Ludar and me, wounded and weak as we were,
what chance was there for us to break through the lines and wander on
foot in search of our lost ones?

"Humphrey," said Ludar, guessing what was in my mind, "we sail with the
Don to Scotland. Thence we will cross to the Glynns, and so be where we
must be sooner than if we ventured by land."

"So be it," said