must have gazed upon during their sojourn here.--Ed.

These, on seeing so great a company, sought to fly, but they were hotly
pursued by Hircan and his companions, and so lost their lives. When
Hircan came back, he found that the man in the shirt was one of his
companions named Geburon, who related to them how while he was in bed
at a farmhouse near Peyrechitte three men came upstairs, and how he,
although he was in his shirt and had no other weapon but his sword, had
stretched one of them on the ground mortally wounded. While the other
two were occupied in raising their companion, he, perceiving himself
to be naked and the others armed, bethought him that he could not
outdo them except it were by flight, as being the least encumbered with
clothes. And so he had escaped, and for this he praised God and those
who had avenged him.

When they had heard mass and had dined they sent to see if it was
possible to cross the river Gave, and on learning that it was not, they
were in great dismay. However, the Abbot urgently entreated them to stay
with him until the water had abated, and they agreed to remain for that
day.

In the evening, as they were going to bed, there arrived an aged monk
who was wont to come in September of every year to Our Lady of Serrance.
They inquired of him concerning his journey, and he told them that on
account of the floods he had come over the mountains and by the worst
roads he had ever known. On the way he had seen a very pitiful sight. He
had met a gentleman named Simontault, who, wearied by his long waiting
for the river to subside, and trusting to the goodness of his horse, had
tried to force a passage, and had placed all his servants round about
him to break the force of the current. But when they were in the midst
of the stream, those who were the worst mounted were swept away, horses
and men, down the stream, and were never seen again. The gentleman,
finding himself alone, turned his horse to go back, but before he could
reach the bank his horse sank under him. Nevertheless, God willed that
this should happen so close to the bank that the gentleman was able, by
dragging himself on all fours and not without swallowing a great deal of
water, to scramble out on to the hard stones, though he was then so weak
and weary that he could not stand upright.

By good fortune a shepherd, bringing back his sheep at even, found him
seated among the stones, wet to the skin, and sad not only for himself