and Vortigern did not issue from the
hut.

CHAPTER IX.

AT THE MORT.

From the start of the hunt, the Emperor of the Franks had rushed
headlong on the heels of the hounds. Amael, at first somewhat uneasy at
the disappearance of his grandson in the midst of so large a concourse
of cavaliers, was taken by accident towards that part of the forest
whither the stag was leading the hounds from cover to cover. Amael even
had the opportunity to assist, shortly before nightfall, at the killing
of the stag, which, exhausted with fatigue after four hours of
breathless running, turned at bay before the hounds when they had
reached him at last, and strove to defend himself against them with the
aid of the magnificent spread of antlers that crowned his head. The
Emperor had not for a moment lost track of the hounds. He followed them
speedily at the mort, together with a few others of the hunters. Jumping
from his horse, he ran limping towards the animal at bay that already
had gored several hounds with his sharp horns. Choosing with an
experienced eye the opportune moment, Charles drew his hunting knife,
and, rushing upon the desperate animal, plunged the weapon into the stag
just above its shoulder, threw it down and then abandoned it to the
hounds, that fiercely precipitated themselves upon the warm quarry and
devoured it amidst the sonorous fanfare of the hunters' horns that thus
announced the close of the chase and called their scattered fellows to
reassemble. With his bloody knife in his hand, and after having
contemplated with lively satisfaction the wild pack now red at their
nozzles and contending with one another for the shreds of the stag's
flesh, the Emperor's eyes fell upon Amael, to whom he called out gaily:

"Eh, seigneur Breton--am I not a bold hunter?"

"You will pardon my sincerity, but I find that at this moment the
Emperor of the Franks, with his long knife in his hand, and his boots
and coat spattered with blood, looks more like a butcher than like an
illustrious monarch."

"I feel happy, nevertheless, and consequently inclined to be indulgent,
seigneur Breton," replied the Emperor, laughing; then, lowering his
voice, he observed to Amael: "Now, see how the clothes of the seigneurs
of my court look."

In fact, most of the Emperor's seigneurs and officers, now hastening in
on horseback to his presence from all sides of the thickets in response
to the horns, presented an appearance that contrasted s