the sunlight flashing from their
helms and armour. 'The pagans have gathered strength daily while we
have fought with each other, and that which would have given us the
strength and the union which would hurl them from our coasts is
shattered and broken. By the noble fellowship of the Round Table was
King Arthur and his realm borne up, and by their nobleness the king and
all his realm was in quietness and in peace. And a great part,' he
ended, 'was because of the noble nature of Sir Lancelot, whom Sir
Gawaine's mad rage hath driven from the kingdom. Nor is all the evil
ended yet.'

XIII

OF THE REBELLION OF MORDRED AND THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR

When Sir Lancelot and all his men had left the realm of Britain and had
betaken themselves to Brittany, where Sir Lancelot had a kingdom of his
own, the Saxons began to increase in Britain, both in strength and
numbers. Almost daily a long black ship, crammed with pagans, was
sighted from some part of the coast; and the British, praying that the
fierce pirates would not visit their homes, would watch the terrible
warship till it passed; or else, caught unawares, would have to flee
inland in a breathless panic when the dragon-headed prow loomed through
the sea-mist, and the barbarous warriors swarmed over the sides and ran
knee-deep in the water, their eyes gleaming with the joy of killing and
their hands eager for the looting.

Then King Arthur made ready a great host, and for two years he fought
in the northern parts against the bands of the pirates. Swift were the
blows he struck, for the great wide Roman roads were still open, not
grass-grown and deserted, and with his mounted knights and men he could
ride quickly from place to place, striking fiercely and scattering the
foul pagans.

Ten was the number of these battles which he fought in the north, six
against the Saxon pirates and four against the wild cats of Caledonia,
whom men call Picts and Scots, and who had ventured south in greater
numbers as soon as they heard how the king warred with his lords and
the rich land was open to plunder. Two others he fought in the south,
one against an insolent band of pirates who dared even to attack his
palace-city of Caerleon-upon-Usk. But so heavy and deadly a blow did he
strike at them then, that from that battle barely a dozen pagans were
left to flee like fire to their ships.

Not without loss of many of his brave warriors did Arthur win these
battles, for the paga