g the foreign element in the land. An
unknown knight, clad in black armor, brought victory to the English
side, but left the field without disclosing his identity. An
archery contest held at the tournament was won by a wonderful
bowman who gave his name as Locksley. Ivanhoe, who fought with
great valor, was badly wounded. Cedric had been accompanied to
Ashby by his beautiful ward, the Lady Rowena, whose wealth and
loveliness excited the cupidity of the lawless Norman knights. "The
Siege of the Castle" opens with Cedric's discovery of his son's
identity, and recounts the stirring incidents that follow the
tournament. It gives a wonderful picture of warfare as it was
hundreds of years ago, before the age of gunpowder.

I

When Cedric the Saxon saw his son drop down senseless in the great
tournament at Ashby, his first impulse was to order him into the care of
his own attendants, but the words choked in his throat. He could not
bring himself to acknowledge, in the presence of such an assembly, the
son whom he had renounced and disinherited for his allegiance to the
Norman king of England, Richard of the Lion Heart. However, he ordered
one of the officers of his household, his cupbearer, to convey Ivanhoe
to Ashby as soon as the crowd had dispersed. But the man was anticipated
in this good office. The crowd dispersed, indeed, but the wounded knight
was nowhere to be seen.

It seemed as if the fairies had conveyed Ivanhoe from the spot; and
Cedric's officer might have adopted some such theory to account for his
disappearance, had he not suddenly cast his eyes on a person attired
like a squire, in whom he recognized the features of his fellow-servant
Gurth, who had run away from his master. Anxious about Ivanhoe's fate,
Gurth was searching for him everywhere and, in so doing, he neglected
the concealment on which his own safety depended. The cupbearer deemed
it his duty to secure Gurth as a fugitive of whose fate his master was
to judge. Renewing his inquiries concerning the fate of Ivanhoe, all
that the cupbearer could learn was that the knight had been raised by
certain well-attired grooms, under the direction of a veiled woman, and
placed in a litter, which had immediately transported him out of the
press. The officer, on receiving this intelligence, resolved to return
to his master, carrying along with him Gurth, the swineherd, as a
deserter from Cedric's service