mall use to feed a man in
a dungeon who is forgotten by himself and all the world'; so one of them
fastened a ladder of ropes to the side and climbed down it, in the hope
of finding an easy victim lying on the ground. Instead there was a man
as strong as ten other men, who leapt swiftly aside to avoid the blow of
his sword, and struck him dead to the ground with a blow of his fist.
The other gaoler, hearing no noise from below, crept down the ladder to
see what had taken place; but as soon as he was on the floor of the
dungeon Bevis gave a mighty spring which snapped the chain that had
bound him to the rock, and thrust him through with the sword he had
taken from his fellow. Then, when, as far as he could reckon, the night
was nearly gone, he climbed up the ladder, and stood once more a free
man.

At the first gleam of dawn, Sir Bevis stole out to the stables, where
the king's horses were being groomed. Peeping through a hole, he
discovered a room hung round with suits of armour, and, getting in
through the roof, he took down a coat of mail, a helmet, and a shield,
while he chose out a good sword from a pile standing in a corner. Then
entering the stable, he cut off the heads of several of the men, while
the rest fled out of reach of the strange being with the long hair and
strong arm. When they were all gone Bevis brought out the best horse in
the stable, and rode out across the drawbridge into the world again.

Of course, directly he was missed, king Ermyn sent his best knights in
pursuit of him, but in one way or another Sir Bevis got the better of
them all, and made his way to Jerusalem, where, for the first time since
he was seven years old, he entered a Christian church. But so anxious
was he to hear some tidings of Josyan, that he remained only a short
time in the city, and soon rode on again along the road to her father's
court.

On the way he met with a young knight who had once been his squire, and
who told him a sad tale. Josyan, he said, had been asked in marriage by
the most powerful and fierce of all the kings of Heathenesse, but she
steadily refused to wed any man who was not a Christian like herself.
This so enraged her father that he gave leave to her suitor to do with
her as he would; so king Inor, for so was he named, carried her off to
his own kingdom, and shut her up in a tower till she should come to a
better mind, and be ready to return to her old faith.

'In her tower she is still,' continued