gain do battle that day. As to
the King of Northumberland and the King of Scots, they broke each his
lance upon the other without suffering a fall. So that first encounter
was somewhat to the advantage of the party against King Arthur.

[Sidenote: _Of the grand assault at arms._]

Then all who beheld that noble encounter of knight against knight
shouted aloud in acclaim, and the shout of that vast acclaim was like
the multitudinous roaring of a strong wind in the forest. Thereupon in
the midst of all that roaring the herald blew his trump again and
therewith the two parties contestant rushed the one upon the other, the
earth shaking and trembling beneath that charge like to an earthquake.
So in another moment they met together in such an uproar of iron and
cracking of splintered wood that the ears of those who heard that
meeting were stunned with the crash thereof. Then all the air was full
of dust and splinters of wood and scraps and shreds of silk and of
plumes. Anon, out of a thick red cloud of dust there arose the roar of a
mighty battle; the shouts of men, the neighing of horses, the crash of
blows and the groans of those who fell. At times, some knight would
come forth out of the press reeling in the saddle and all red from some
wound he had got. At other times, a party of esquires would run into
that cloud, presently to come forth again bearing with them a wounded
knight whom they had rescued. At other parts of the field there were
knights armed with spears who ran tilt against one another, and ever and
anon a knight would be flung from the saddle or else horse and knight
would roll together upon the earth all in a smother of dust.

So for a while the battle was toward and yet no one could see how it
went. For what with all that dust and the contending of single
champions, no one could tell whether it inclined to this side or to
that.

But after a while the dust lifted a little, and those who contended
became fewer upon one side than upon the other and so stinted the
fierceness of their battle.

Then it was that those who looked down upon that battle beheld that the
party of King Arthur was pushing their opponents back, little by little,
toward the barriers upon their side of the field (and if so be they were
pushed altogether against that barrier then was their battle lost for
good).

Then Sir Launcelot said to Sir Lavaine: "Behold yonder company of noble
knights, how that they hold together and stand aga