n to
the aid of the youthful king. Then were held great feasts, and a noble
tournament was given on All-hallowmas day, at which Sir Kay carried off
the honors of the lists and received the prize of valor.

But sport had soon to give place to war, for the hostile kings, now
eleven in all, with a host of fifty thousand mounted men and ten
thousand footmen, were marching upon King Arthur's camp, then at the
Castle of Bedegraine, in Sherwood forest.

Two nights before the hosts met in battle, one of the hostile leaders,
known as the king with the hundred knights, dreamed a wondrous dream. It
seemed to him that there came a mighty wind, which blew down all their
castles and towns, and that then there came a great flood and carried
all away. All who heard this dream said that it was a token of great
battle, but by its portent none were dismayed, for they felt too secure
in their strength to heed the warning of a dream.

Soon the two armies drew together, and encamped at no great distance
asunder. Then, by advice of Merlin, a midnight attack was made by Arthur
and his allies upon the host of the eleven kings, as they lay sleeping
in their tents. But their sentinels were alert, the sound of the coming
host reached their wakeful ears, and loud the cry ran through the camp:

"To arms! lords and knights, to arms! The enemy is upon us! To arms! to
arms!"

On like a wave of war came the force of Arthur, Ban, and Bors. The tents
were overthrown, and all the valor of the eleven kings was needed to
save their army from defeat. So fiercely went the assault that by
day-dawn ten thousand of their men lay dead upon the field, while
Arthur's loss was but small.

By Merlin's advice, while it was yet dark the forces of Ban and Bors had
been placed in ambush in the forest. Then Arthur, with his own army of
twenty thousand men, set fiercely on the overwhelming force of the foe,
and deeds of mighty prowess were done, men falling like leaves, and many
knights of tried valor staining the earth with their blood.

Fiercely went the combat, hand to hand and blade to blade, till the
field was strewn with the dead, while none could tell how the battle
would end. But when Kings Ban and Bors broke from their ambush, with ten
thousand fresh men, the tide of battle turned against the foe. Back they
went, step by step, many of their men taking to flight, and hundreds
falling in death. King Bors did marvellous deeds of arms. King Ban,
whose horse was