tagil, in
Cornwall.

CHAPTER III.

THE WAGER OF BATTLE.

When tidings came to King Mark that Tristram had returned to Cornwall,
cured of his wounds, the king and all his barons were glad, and on the
arrival of the knight he was treated with the greatest honor. No long
time passed before he rode to the castle of his father, King Meliodas,
who received him with fatherly love and pride, while the queen greeted
him with the warmest joy. And that their knightly son should have
wherewithal to make a fair show in the world, they parted with much of
their lands and wealth to him, endowing him with broad estates and
lordly castles.

[Illustration: A CASTLE OF CORNWALL.]

Afterwards, at his father's desire, who wished his son to gain all
honor, Tristram returned to the court of Cornwall, where he was gladly
welcomed. And here, though his love for La Belle Isolde lay deep in his
heart, it was dimmed by later feelings, for there were many fair ladies
at the court, and the young knight was at that age when the heart is
soft and tender.

In the end it happened that a jealousy and unfriendliness arose between
King Mark and him. This grew with time, and in the end the king, who was
base and treacherous of soul, waylaid Tristram, aided by two knights of
his counsel, and sought to slay him. But so valiantly did he defend
himself that he hurled the three to the earth, wounding the king so
deeply that he was long in recovering.

The king now grew to hate his young guest bitterly, and laid plans to
destroy him. Finally, it occurred to him to send Tristram to Ireland for
La Belle Isolde, whose beauty and goodness the young knight had praised
so warmly that King Mark had it in his heart to wed her. But his main
purpose in sending Tristram to Ireland was to compass his destruction,
for he knew how he was hated there.

Tristram was not blind to the danger into which this mission might bring
him, and suspected the purpose of the king, but his love of adventure
was so great that for it he was ready to dare any risk.

As for Isolde, absence and affection for other ladies had dimmed his
passion for her, so that for the time his love was forgotten, and he
came to look upon it as a youthful episode not knowing how deeply it
still lay under all these later feelings. He, therefore, accepted the
mission, and made ready to go in royal state.

He selected for his companions a number of the ablest knights of the
court, and saw that th