lances from
beneath their visors. Then each spurred his horse, and charged with fury
upon the other; and the heavy lances of both were broken in shivers upon
the opposing shields. Then, quick as thought, they turned and drew
their swords, and hand to hand they fought. But soon Siegfried, by an
unlooked-for stroke, sent his enemy's sword flying from him, broken in a
dozen pieces, and by a sudden movement he threw him from his horse. The
heavy shield of the fallen knight was no hinderance to the quick strokes
of Siegfried's sword; and his glittering armor, soiled by the mud into
which he had been thrown, held him down. He threw up his hands, and
begged for mercy.

"I am Leudigast the king!" he cried. "Spare my life. I am your
prisoner."

Siegfried heard the prayer of the discomfited king; and, lifting him
from the ground, he helped him to remount his charger. But, while he was
doing this, thirty warriors, who had seen the combat from below, came
dashing up the hill to the rescue of their liege-lord. Siegfried faced
about with his horse Greyfell, and quietly waited for their onset. But,
as they drew near, they were so awed by the noble bearing and grand
proportions of the hero, and so astonished at sight of the sunbeam mane
of Greyfell, and the cold glitter of the blade Balmung, that in sudden
fright they stopped, then turned, and fled in dismay down the sloping
hillside, nor paused until they were safe among their friends.

In the mean while Leudiger, the other king, seeing what was going on
at the top of the hill, had caused an alarm to be sounded; and all his
hosts had hastily arranged themselves in battle-array. At the same time
Hagen and Gernot, and their little army of heroes, hove in sight, and
came quickly to Siegfried's help, and the dragon-banner was planted upon
the crest of the hill. The captive king, Leudigast, was taken to the
rear, and a guard was placed over him. The champions of the Rhine formed
in line, and faced their foes. The great army of the North-kings moved
boldly up the hill: and, when they saw how few were the Burgundians,
they laughed and cheered most lustily; for they felt that the odds was
in their favor--and forty to one is no small odds.

Then Siegfried and his twelve comrades, and Hagen and the thousand
Burgundian knights, dashed upon them with the fury of the whirlwind.
The lances flew so thick in the air, that they hid the sun from sight;
swords flashed on every side; the sound of cla