nist, with a view of
striking him with it as he rode by, watching, at the same time, the
terrible point which was coming toward him, in hopes to avoid it if
possible, and, if not, to bear up against the blow so firmly as not to
be unhorsed. The lances were very long, and were made of very solid
wood, but the chief momentum of the blow which they were intended to
give came from the end of them being supported in a rest, which was
connected with the saddle in such a manner that the whole impetus of the
horse, as it were, was communicated to the lance, and this impetus was
so great, that if a lance struck in such a manner that it could not
glance off, and did not overthrow the man, but met with a solid
resistance, it was often shivered to atoms by the shock. This happened
in the present case. The lances of both combatants were shivered at the
first encounter. The riders were, however, uninjured. The horses
wheeled, made a short circuit, and rushed toward each other again. At
the second encounter, Bernard brought down so heavy a blow with a
battle-axe upon the iron armor that covered De Langurant's shoulder,
that the unfortunate trooper was hurled out of his saddle and thrown to
the ground.

As soon as Bernard could rein in his horse again and bring him round,
he galloped up to the spot where De Langurant had fallen, and found
him attempting to raise himself up from the ground. At the same time,
the horsemen whom De Langurant had left in the wood, and who had been
watching the combat from their place of ambush, seeing their master
unhorsed, began to put themselves in motion to come to his rescue.
Bernard, who was a man of prodigious strength, reached down from his
horse as he rode over his fallen enemy, and seized hold of his helmet.
His horse, in the mean time, going on, and Bernard holding to the
helmet with all his force, it was torn off from its fastenings, and De
Langurant's head was left unprotected and bare.

Bernard threw the helmet down upon the ground under his horse's feet.
Then drawing his dagger, he raised it over De Langurant's head, and
called upon him to surrender.

"Surrender!" said he. "Surrender this instant, or you are a dead man."

The men in ambush were coming on, and De Langurant hoped they would be
able to rescue him, so he did not reply. Bernard, knowing that he had
not a moment to spare, drove the dagger into De Langurant's head, and
then galloped away back through the gates into the town, just