en Mordred, hearing
through the spies of the king's approach, got his host away and thought
to pass into the lands of Devon, which were those of King Dewer, son of
the dead Geraint, and held firmly for Arthur.

But in the wild waste-land beside the Endless Waters, King Arthur
caught up with him, and barred his further way. And the king remembered
that this was that same land, full of gaunt standing-stones and haunted
by trolls and witches, where Merlin had once led him, and where he had
gained the sword Excalibur.

It was late in the day when the two armies faced each other, and both
prepared to pass the night upon the field. Bitter was the wind that
evening, and the skies were dun and leaden of hue, as if spring had
been overcome by winter; and to shelter the king a tent had been put up
in a little dark wood of stunted firs, called the Wood of Drood. Just
in the deep dark before the dawn, when the blood in men's veins was
coldest, and the life in their hearts was weakest, a dreadful cry
wailed out through the dark wood, and there came the sound as of
leathery wings flapping heavily to and fro above where the king lay
sleeping. Men started up about their ashen fires, their faces blanching
at the terror that cried in the dark, and they heard the wailing twice
repeated, while none dared try to see the thing that wailed.

Then, while their blood chilled and their breath stayed, they heard the
heavy flapping pass over their heads and die away towards the camp of
Mordred; and there in the distance did the three cries sound again.

Men's hearts sickened as they turned and crept the nearer to each
other, but few dared to utter the words upon their lips.

Two knights slept in the tent with king, Sir Kay and Sir Owen; and they
lay in the dark, trembling at the cries of terrible import. When they
passed, the knights would not move, fearing to be the first to speak.

'My Lords,' came the quiet voice of King Arthur out of the dark, 'that
was the voice of the Hag of Warning. Men say it hath foretold the
deaths of many of my house, but I know not. Yet will I take the issue
as God shall give it me, trusting in His mercy and the blood of His Son
Jesus, and Him crucified.'

'Amen,' said the two knights, and said no more.

When, in a little while, the sun rose, flashing his warm rays into the
fearful eyes that greeted him, men's terror quickly vanished; and when
fires were lit and oaten cakes were browning on the irons, or collop