Bois-Guilbert's new shield bore a raven in full
flight, holding in its claws a skull, and bearing the motto, _Gare le
Corbeau_.[56-6]

When the two champions stood opposed to each other at the two
extremities of the lists, the public expectation was strained to the
highest pitch. Few augured the possibility that the encounter could
terminate well for the Disinherited Knight; yet his courage and
gallantry secured the general good wishes of the spectators.

The trumpets had no sooner given the signal, than the champions vanished
from their posts with the speed of lightning, and closed in the centre
of the lists with the shock of a thunderbolt. The lances burst into
shivers up to the very grasp, and it seemed at the moment that both
knights had fallen, for the shock had made each horse recoil backward
upon its haunches. The address of the riders recovered their steeds by
use of the bridle and spur; and having glared on each other for an
instant with eyes which seemed to flash fire through the bars of their
visors, each made a demi-volte,[57-7] and, retiring to the extremity of
the lists, received a fresh lance from the attendants.

A loud shout from the spectators, waving of scarfs and handkerchiefs,
and general acclamations, attested the interest taken by the spectators
in this encounter--the most equal, as well as the best performed, which
had graced the day. But no sooner had the knights resumed their station
than the clamor of applause was hushed into a silence so deep and so
dead that it seemed the multitude were afraid even to breathe.

A few minutes' pause having been allowed, that the combatants and their
horses might recover breath, Prince John with his truncheon signed to
the trumpets to sound the onset. The champions a second time sprung from
their stations, and closed in the centre of the lists, with the same
speed, the same dexterity, the same violence, but not the same equal
fortune as before.

In this second encounter, the Templar aimed at the centre of his
antagonist's shield, and struck it so fair and forcibly that his spear
went to shivers, and the Disinherited Knight reeled in his saddle. On
the other hand, that champion had, at the beginning of his career,
directed the point of his lance toward Bois-Guilbert's shield, but,
changing his aim almost in the moment of encounter, he addressed it to
the helmet, a mark more difficult to hit, but which, if attained,
rendered the shock more irresistible. Fa