ould never find
_me_ again, or _I_ the wizard's castle,' and, so saying, she guided her
horse after his.

Thus they rode for some way, when Pinabello, who was in front, espied
among the rocks a deep cavern with sides so steep and smooth that no
mortal could have climbed them. He jumped off his horse and peered to
the bottom, but no bottom could he see. Then his heart leaped at the
thought that now, once and for all, he would be rid of Bradamante.

'Ah, good knight, you did well to follow me,' turning to greet her, as
her horse came panting up the steep hill.

'A damsel lies imprisoned in that dark place, and it is foretold that
only a knight with a white mantle and a white plume in his helm can
deliver her. Now I think that you must be that knight, and if you have
the courage to go down into that cavern as I went, you will get speech
of her, as I did.'

'I will go right willingly,' answered Bradamante, and looked about her
for some means of descending into the cavern. Near the mouth was a stout
oak, and Bradamante cut off a branch with her sword and plunged it down
the mouth of the cave. She gave Pinabello one end to hold fast, and
lowered herself carefully into the darkness.

'Can you jump?' asked the count suddenly, with a laugh, and, giving the
bough a push, it fell with Bradamante into the pit.

But the traitor triumphed without a cause. In the swift passage down the
cave the branch struck the bottom first, and, though it broke in pieces,
Bradamante was saved from being dashed against the floor, where she lay
for a while bruised and shaken.

When she became used to the darkness, she stood up and looked around
her. 'There may be some way out, after all,' thought she, noting that
the cave was less gloomy than she had fancied, and felt round the walls
with her hands. On one side there seemed to be a passage, and going
cautiously down it she found that it ended in a sort of church, with a
lamp hanging over the altar.

At this moment there opened a little gate, and through it came a lady,
bare-footed, with streaming hair.

'O Bradamante,' she said, 'long have I awaited you, for Merlin, who lies
here, prophesied before he entered this living tomb that ages hence you
would find your way hither. He bade me come from a far-distant land, and
be with you at the hour when his spirit, though dead, should tell of the
glories of the race that will spring from you and Roger.'

'I am not worthy of such honour,' answered