d) grew wroth at the pious crusader's disdainful
coldness; and when Aymer returned to his comrades, she sent, amidst the
gifts of the soldan, two coal-black steeds, male and mare, over which
some foul and weird spells had been duly muttered. Their beauty, speed,
art, and fierceness were a marvel. And Aymer, unsuspecting, prized the
boon, and selected the male destrier for his war-horse. Great were the
feats, in many a field, which my forefather wrought, bestriding his
black charger. But one fatal day, on which the sudden war-trump made him
forget his morning ave, the beast had power over the Christian, and bore
him, against bit and spur, into the thickest of the foe. He did all a
knight can do against many (pardon his descendant's vaunting,--so runs
the tale), and the Christians for a while beheld him solitary in the
melee, mowing down moon and turban. Then the crowd closed, and the good
knight was lost to sight. 'To the rescue!' cried bold King Richard, and
on rushed the crusaders to Aymer's help; when lo! and suddenly the ranks
severed, and the black steed emerged! Aymer still on the selle, but
motionless, and his helm battered and plumeless, his brand broken,
his arm drooping. On came man and horse, on,--charging on, not against
Infidel but Christian. On dashed the steed, I say, with fire bursting
from eyes and nostrils, and the pike of his chaffron bent lance-like
against the crusaders' van. The foul fiend seemed in the destrier's rage
and puissance. He bore right against Richard's standard-bearer, and down
went the lion and the cross. He charged the king himself; and Richard,
unwilling to harm his own dear soldier Aymer, halted wondering, till the
pike of the destrier pierced his own charger through the barding, and
the king lay rolling in the dust. A panic seized the cross-men; they
fled, the Saracens pursued, and still with the Saracens came the black
steed and the powerless rider. At last, when the crusaders reached the
camp, and the flight ceased, there halted, also, Aymer. Not a man dared
near him. He spoke not, none spoke to him, till a holy priest and palmer
approached and sprinkled the good knight and the black barb with holy
water, and exorcised both; the spell broke, and Aymer dropped to the
earth. They unbraced his helm,--he was cold and stark. The fierce steed
had but borne a dead man."

"Holy Paul!" cried Gloucester, with seeming sanctimony, though a covert
sneer played round the firm beauty of his pale