grass
beside her.

'Let us go forth at once,' she cried gaily, and sprang into her saddle.
The knight hastily fastened on his armour, and, placing a blood-red
cross upon his breast, swung himself on to his horse's back. And so
they rode over the plain, a trusty dwarf following far behind, and a
snow-white lamb, held by a golden cord, trotting by Una's side.

* * * * *

After some hours they left the plain and entered a forest, where the
trees and bushes grew so thick that no path could they see. At first, in
their eagerness to escape the storm which was sweeping up the plain
behind them, they hardly took heed where they were going; and besides,
the beauty of the flowers and the sweet scent of the fruit caused them
to forget the trouble they would have to find the road again. But when
the sound of the thunder ceased, and the lightning no longer darted
through the leaves, they were startled to perceive they had wandered
they knew not whither. No sun could they see to show them which was east
and which west, neither was there any man to tell them what they fain
would know. At length they stopped, for before them lay a cave
stretching far away into the darkness.

'We can rest there this night,' said the Red Cross Knight, leaping to
the ground, and handing his spear to the dwarf; 'and first, you, lady,
shall remain, here, while I enter and make sure that no fierce or
loathsome beasts lurk in the corners.' But Una turned pale as she
listened.

'The perils of this place I better know than you,' she answered gravely.
'In this den dwells a vile monster, hated by God and man.' And the voice
of the dwarf cried also, 'Fly, fly! this is no place for living men.'
They might have spared their warnings; when did youth ever heed them?
The knight looked into the cave, and

Forth into the darksome hole he went.
His glistening armour made a little glooming light,
By which he saw the ugly monster plain,
Half like a serpent horribly displayed,
The other half did woman's shape retain.

It was too late to turn back, even had he wished it; but indeed it was
the monster who looked round, as if to find a way to flee. Before her
stood the knight, his sword drawn, waiting for a fair chance to plunge
it into her throat. Escape there was none, and she prepared for battle.

The knight fought valiantly, but never had he met a foe like this. The
monster was so large and so scaly that he c