faster, and he, again crossing himself, gave utterance to a charm.
Spanish, especially old Castilian, had likeness enough to Latin for the
poor old woman to recognize its purport; she poured out a voluble
vindication, which the two young men believed to be an attempt at
further bewitching them. Eustace, finding his Latin rather the worse
for wear, had recourse to all the strange rhymes, or exorcisms,
English, French, or Latin, with which his memory supplied him. Thanks
to these, the sorceress was kept at bay, and the spirits of his
terrified companion were sustained till the arrival of all the Lances
of Lynwood, headed by Gaston himself, upon his mule, in the utmost
anxiety for his Knight, looking as gaunt and spectral as the phantoms
they dreaded. He blessed the saints when Eustace came forth safe and
sound, and smiled and shook his head with an arch look when Leonard was
carried out; but his never-failing good-nature prevented him from
saying a word which might savour of reproach when he saw to what a
condition the poor youth was reduced. As four stout men-at-arms took
up the litter, the old woman, coming forth to her threshold, uttered
something which his knowledge of the Romanesque tongues of Southern
France enabled him to interpret into a vindication of her character,
and a request for a reward for her care of the sick Englishman.

"Throw her a gold piece, Sir Eustace, or she may cast at you an evil
eye. There, you old hag," he added in the Provencal patois, "take
that, and thank your stars that 'tis not with a fire that your tender
care, as you call it, is requited."

The men-at-arms meditated ducking the witch after their own English
fashion, but it was growing late and dark, and the Knight gave strict
orders that they should keep together in their progress to their own
tents. Here Leonard was deposited on the couch which Gaston insisted
on giving up to him; but his change of residence appeared to be of
little advantage, for the camp was scarce quiet for the night, before
he shrieked out that the black cats were there. Neither Eustace nor
Gaston could see them, but that was only a proof that they were not
under the power of the enchantment, and John Ingram was quite sure that
he had not only seen the sparkle of their fiery eyes, but felt the
scratch of their talons, which struck him to the ground, with his foot
caught in the rope of the tent, while he was walking about with his
eyes shut.

The scratch