andled whip which he used to stir up the
hunting dogs with. Thanks to his tall stature, which greatly exceeded
that of any of his officers, Charles was able to detect Vortigern and
Amael from afar, whereupon he cried out to the grandfather:

"Eh, seigneur Breton. Come, if you please, to my side, with your
grandson. I wish to ascertain whether, indeed, he is as good a horseman
as my little girls claim."

The ranks of the courtiers parted in order to allow a passage to Amael
and his grandson, the latter of whom modestly followed his grandfather,
not daring to raise his eyes lest they should fall upon the group of
women that surrounded the Emperor. Charles watched Vortigern
attentively, and the gracefulness with which the youth handled his
horse, drew from the Emperor the remark:

"Old Charles can judge at a glance of the skill of a rider. I am
satisfied. But I suspect you love the hunt better than you do the mass,
and a horse's saddle better than a church bench."

"I do prefer the hunt to the mass," frankly responded Vortigern; "but I
prefer war to the hunt."

"Though your answer is not that of a good Catholic, it is the answer of
a sincere lad. What do you think, my little ones?" added the Emperor,
turning towards the group of huntresses. "Are you not of my mind?"

"You asked the young man for his opinion, and he spoke out with
sincerity. He says what he does; he will do what he says. Valor and
loyalty are written upon his face," was the prompt answer that came from
Hildrude.

The blonde Thetralde, not daring to speak after her elder sister, grew
cherry-red, and cast a look of intense jealousy, almost of rage, upon
the brunette Hildrude, whose quick repartee she envied.

"There is nothing left to me but to join in the praise of the young
pagan's frankness, lest I get into trouble with my little girls. Come
forward," and leaning over towards Amael, he pointed angrily with his
whip at the crowd of courtiers who shimmered in their costly finery, and
prinked in their flowing plumes. "Look at that bevy of richly
caparisoned customers. Look at them well. You will presently wish to
remember the figures they are now cutting," saying which, the Emperor
rode off at a gallop, followed by all his court, and calling out to the
courtiers as well as to the Bretons:

"Once in the forest, each to himself, and at the mercy of his own horse.
At the hunt there is neither Emperor nor courtier. There are only
hunters and huntresses