or the knight in dark armor, fair Rebecca, and see how he
bears himself; for as the leader is, so will his followers be."

"I see him not," said Rebecca. "Foul craven!" exclaimed Ivanhoe; "does he
blench from the helm when the wind blows highest?" "He blenches not! he
blenches not!" said Rebecca; "I see him now: he leads a body of men close
under the outer barrier of the barbacan. They pull down the piles and
palisades; they hew down the barriers with axes. His high black plume
floats abroad over the throng like a raven over the field of the slain.
They have made a breach in the barriers, they rush in, they are thrust
back! Front de Boeuf heads the defenders. I see his gigantic form above
the press. They throng again to the breach, and the pass is disputed, hand
to hand, and man to man. God of Jacob! it is the meeting of two fierce
tides, the conflict of two oceans moved by adverse winds;" and she turned
her head from the window as if unable longer to endure a sight so
terrible.

Speedily recovering her self-control, Rebecca again looked forth, and
almost immediately exclaimed, "Holy prophets of the law! Front de Boeuf
and the Black Knight fight hand to hand on the breach, amid the roar of
their followers, who watch the progress of the strife. Heaven strike with
the cause of the oppressed and of the captive!" She then uttered a loud
shriek, and exclaimed, "He is down! he is down!" "Who is down!" cried
Ivanhoe; "for our dear Lady's sake, tell me which has fallen!" "The Black
Knight," answered Rebecca, faintly; then instantly again shouted with
joyful eagerness--"But no! but no! the name of the Lord of Hosts be
blessed! he is on foot again, and fights as if there were twenty men's
strength in his single arm--his sword is broken--he snatches an ax from a
yeoman--he presses Front de Boeuf, blow on blow--the giant stoops and
totters like an oak under the steel of the woodman--he falls-he falls!"
"Front de Boeuf?" exclaimed Ivanhoe. "Front de Boeuf," answered the
Jewess; "his men rush to the rescue, headed by the haughty Templar,
--their united force compels the champion to pause--they drag Front de
Boeuf within the walls."

"The assailants have won the barriers, have they not?" said Ivanhoe. "They
have--they have--and they press the besieged hard upon the outer wall;
some plant ladders, some swarm like bees, and endeavor to ascend upon the
shoulders of each other; down go stones, beams, and trunks of trees upon
their heads