A BRAVE OLD WARRTOR, 85

Monnting his white steed. the earl caused one of
the sides of his pavilion to be raised, and issuing
forth, spurred against the foe with shouts of ‘Let
him who loves me follow me! Holy Cross! Holy
Cross!’ Nor did the aged warrior confine his hostility
to words. Encountering the leader of the Saracens
face to face, he bravely commenced the attack, and,
after a brief conflict, with his heavy axe cleft the
infidel from the crown almost to the chest.

‘Pagan dog!’ exclaimed the earl, as the Saracen
felt lifeless to the ground; ‘I devote thine impure
soul to the powers of hell.’

But this achievement was the last which Earl
Patrick was destined to perform. As he spurred
forward to pursue his success, his steed became re-
fractory, and he was flung violently to the ground.
Ere his friends could come to his aid, the Saracens
gave him several blows with their clubs, and he
would have been killed on the spot but for the
arrival of Bisset, with Guy Muschamp and Walter
Espec, who, having mounted, now came with a rush
to the rescue. A sharp conflict then took place.
Guy, advancing as gaily as if he had been in the
tiltyard at Wark, gallantly unhorsed one Saracen
with the point of his lance. Walter, going more
gravely into the combat, killed another with his
falchion, at the use of which he was expert. After
much trouble the French lords were rescued ; and such
of the Saracens as had not fallen, fled, and galloped
along the banks of the Nile.

Meanwhile the squires and grooms of the Earl of
March raised him from the ground; and, supported

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