emselves if the man whom
they had killed at mid-day had been brought back to life by the help of
fiends. "If we let them escape now we shall be covered with shame,"
said they, "but ere night falls William shall acknowledge that he is
conquered."

"Indeed!" said Bertrand, and with his cousins he fell upon them till
they fled.

The Counts were victors on this field, but, wounded and weary as they
were, another combat lay before them, for a force of twenty thousand
Saracens was advancing from the valley.

Their hearts never failed them, but they had no strength left; the
young Counts were all taken prisoners, except Vivian, who was left for
dead by the side of a fountain where he had been struck down. "O
Father in Heaven," he said, feeling his life going from him, "forgive
me my sins, and help my uncle, if it is Thy holy will."

William Short Nose was still fighting, though he knew that the victory
lay with the Saracens and their hosts. "We are beaten," he said to the
fourteen faithful comrades who stood by him. "Listen as you will, no
sound of our war cry can be heard. But by the Holy Rood, the Saracens
shall know no rest while I am alive. I will give my forefathers no
cause for shame, and the minstrels shall not tell in their songs how I
fell back before the enemy."

They then gave battle once more, and fought valiantly, till all lay
dead upon the ground, save only William himself.

PART II.

Now the Count knew that if the Saracens were ever to be vanquished and
beaten out of fair France he must take heed of his own life, for the
task was his and no other man's; so he turned his horse's head towards
Orange, and then stopped, for he saw a troop of freshly landed Saracens
approaching him along the same road.

"The whole world is full of these Saracens!" he cried in anger, "God
alone can save me. My good horse," added he, "you are very tired. If
you had had only five days' rest, I would have led you to the charge;
but I see plainly that I can get no help from you, and I cannot blame
you for it, as you have served me well all day, and for this I thank
you greatly. If ever we reach Orange you shall wear no saddle for
twenty days, your food shall be the finest corn, and you shall drink
out of a golden trough."

And the horse understood; he threw up his head, and pawed the ground,
and his strength came back to him as of old. At this sight William
Short Nose felt more glad than if he had been given fourte