on to
the bog. The knight went first. The Amazon and her comrade followed by
a sweeping detour through the tree trunks; just as they were on the
edge of the bog, there suddenly appeared snorting before them two wild
boars;--they had come into the lair of these beasts which had been
deaf to everything around them as they lay in the reeds and mud, only
noticing the newcomers when the young man's horse trampled to death
two young ones rubbing themselves against the old sow. The rest of the
young scattered into the sedge while the old ones, with threatening
growls, turned upon the intruders. The sow plunged blindly at the
youth, while the boar stood still a moment, his bristles raised and
ears pointed. He leveled his tusks and, with deep grunt and blood-shot
eye, charged at the maiden. The young man hurled his lance from a safe
distance at the sow; the whizzing weapon struck into the hard skull of
the creature, the point piercing to the brain. The sow ran like a
monstrous unicorn, the lance still sticking in her skull, but her eyes
had lost the power of sight and she passed the rider and fell without
a sound at a little distance. The maiden waited calmly for the raging
boar; seizing her lance with her left hand she aimed its point
downward and held her bridle firmly. The noble horse stood quiet
against his raging opponent, pricking up his ears, and with a turn of
his neck kept his eye on the boar so that just as the tusk would have
entered the side, the trained animal bounded away, and at the same
moment the Amazon bent over and hurled her lance deep between the
shoulder-blades of the boar. The creature, wounded to the death, sank
down with a groan, but made one more onset at the maiden, when the
youth sprang like lightning from his horse and dealt him a final blow
with his sword. Just then from afar was heard the sound of the horn;
the other riders who, by making a long circuit, had now overtaken the
leaders, greeted the heroes of the day, the knight, the Amazon and the
youth, with loud huzzas. The strongly-built man was bespattered with
mud and the others did not look much better. Only the riding habit of
the lady was without spot and without rent. Even in such circumstances
as these, ladies know how to take care of their clothes. When the
knight saw the monster that his niece had laid low, looking larger
than ever now that it was stretched out in death, he appeared like one
just realizing the peril to which his darling h