consoled as best he could, bidding his surgeon at once attend to his
wounds.

Thus ended the first battle between the Britons and the Romans. That
night there was great rejoicing in the camp of King Arthur; and on the
next day all the prisoners were sent to Paris, with Sir Launcelot du
Lake and Sir Cador, and many other knights to guard them. On the way,
passing through a wood, they were beset by a force the Emperor Lucius
had placed there in ambush. Then Sir Launcelot, though the enemy had
six men for every one he had with him, fought with such fury that no
one could stand up against him; and at last, in dread of his prowess
and might, the Romans and their allies the Saracens turned and fled as
though they had been sheep and Sir Launcelot a wolf or a lion. But
the skirmish had lasted so long that tidings of it had reached King
Arthur, who arrayed himself and hurried to the aid of his knights.
Finding them already victorious, he embraced them one by one, saying
that they were indeed worthy of whatever honors had been granted them
in the past, and that no other king had ever had such noble knights as
he had.

To this Sir Cador answered that they might one and all claim at least
the merit of not having deserted their posts, but that the honor of
the day belonged to Sir Launcelot, for it passed man's wit to describe
all the feats of arms he had performed. Then Sir Cador told the King
that certain of his knights were slain, and who they were, whereupon
King Arthur wept bitterly.

"Truly," he said, "your valor nearly was the destruction of you all.
Yet you would not have been disgraced in my eyes had you retreated.
To me it seems a rash and foolhardy thing for knights to stand their
ground when they find themselves overmatched."

"Nay," replied Sir Launcelot, "I think otherwise; for a knight who has
once been put to shame may never recover the honor he has forfeited."

There was among the Romans who escaped from that battle a senator.
He went to the Emperor Lucius and said, "Sir, my advice is that you
withdraw your army, for this day has proved that grievous blows are
all we shall win here. There is not one of King Arthur's knights that
has not proved himself worth a hundred of ours."

"Alas," cried Lucius, "that is coward's talk and to hear it grieves me
more than all the losses I have sustained this day."

Then he ordered one of his most trusty allies to take a great
force and advance as fast as he possibly could