pe the observation of the guards before the Queen's pavilion; and he
was obliged also to move slowly, and with precaution, to avoid giving an
alarm, either by falling or by the clashing of his armour. A thin cloud
had obscured the moon, too, at the very instant of his leaving the tent,
and Sir Kenneth had to struggle with this inconvenience at a moment when
the dizziness of his head and the fullness of his heart scarce left him
powers of intelligence sufficient to direct his motions.

But at once sounds came upon his ear which instantly recalled him to the
full energy of his faculties. These proceeded from the Mount of Saint
George. He heard first a single, fierce, angry, and savage bark, which
was immediately followed by a yell of agony. No deer ever bounded with
a wilder start at the voice of Roswal than did Sir Kenneth at what he
feared was the death-cry of that noble hound, from whom no ordinary
injury could have extracted even the slightest acknowledgment of pain.
He surmounted the space which divided him from the avenue, and, having
attained it, began to run towards the mount, although loaded with his
mail, faster than most men could have accompanied him even if unarmed,
relaxed not his pace for the steep sides of the artificial mound, and in
a few minutes stood on the platform upon its summit.

The moon broke forth at this moment, and showed him that the Standard of
England was vanished, that the spear on which it had floated lay broken
on the ground, and beside it was his faithful hound, apparently in the
agonies of death.

CHAPTER XIV.

All my long arrear of honour lost,
Heap'd up in youth, and hoarded up for age.
Hath Honour's fountain then suck'd up the stream?
He hath--and hooting boys may barefoot pass,
And gather pebbles from the naked ford!
DON SEBASTIAN.

After a torrent of afflicting sensations, by which he was at first
almost stunned and confounded, Sir Kenneth's first thought was to look
for the authors of this violation of the English banner; but in no
direction could he see traces of them. His next, which to some persons,
but scarce to any who have made intimate acquaintances among the canine
race, may appear strange, was to examine the condition of his faithful
Roswal, mortally wounded, as it seemed, in discharging the duty which
his master had been seduced to abandon. He caressed the dying animal,
who, faithful to the last, seemed to forget his own pain