ng Arthur
ordered his men to advance, and in their midst was the great silken
banner with the fierce red dragon ramping in its folds. This had been
blessed by the Archbishop of London at a solemn service held before the
host left London.

All day the battle raged. Knight hurled and hurtled against knight,
bowmen shot their short Welsh arrows, and men-at-arms thrust and maimed
and slashed with the great billhooks and spears.

King Arthur, with his bodyguard of four--Sir Kay, Sir Baudwin, Sir
Ulfius, and Sir Bedevere--did feats of arms that it was marvel to see.
Often the eleven kings did essay to give deadly strokes upon the king,
but the press of fighting kept some of them from him, and others
withdrew sore wounded from the attack upon him and his faithful four.

Once the five held strong medley against six of the rebel kings, and
these were King Lot, King Nentres, King Brandegoris, King Idres, King
Uriens, and King Agwisance; and so fiercely did they attack them that
three drew off sore wounded, whilst King Lot, King Uriens and King
Nentres were unhorsed, and all but slain by the men-at-arms.

At length it appeared to Arthur that his host was yielding before the
weight of numbers of the enemy, and then he bethought him of a
strategy. He took counsel of his nobles, and they approved; he sent a
trusty messenger to the Kings Ban and Bors, who still lay in ambush;
and then, commanding his trumpets to sound, he ordered a retreat.

As had been agreed on, the knights on Arthur's side made their retreat
in a confusion that seemed full of fear; and the enemy, joyfully
shouting their cries of triumph, pursued them headlong.

King Lot's host, led onward thus unthinking, were sure of victory. But
their cries of triumph were short and quickly turned to woe; for when
they had passed the place of ambush, they heard cries of terror in
their rear, and turning, they found a great host pouring forth from the
hollow combe, thick as angry bees from a hive.

Then, indeed, taken in the rear and in the front, there was little hope
of victory, and King Lot's men fought for dear life.

Seeing King Bors, where he hewed terribly in the press of battle, King
Lot, who knew him well, cried out:

'Ah, Mary, now defend us from death and from horrible maims, for I see
well we be in fear of quick death! Yonder is King Bors, one of the most
worshipful and best knights in the world; and there is his twin
brother, King Ban, as terrible as he. How