The Children of Spinalunga 167

gether to watch it; and as they watched they
held their breath, for suddenly in the golden
light of the morning they saw that behind
each child there was a great white-winged
Angel with a fiery spear.

Then, as that throng of singing children
and shining spirits swept down upon the
Free-lances, a wild cry of panic arose from
the camp. The eight hundred horsemen
turned in dismay, and plunged through the
ranks of the men-at-arms, and the mercena-
ries fell back in terror and confusion, strik-
ing each other down and trampling the
wounded underfoot in their frantic efforts to
escape. At that moment the hill-men who
were lying in ambush on each flank bore
down on the bewildered multitude, and
hacked and hewed right and left till the
boldest and hardiest of the horsemen broke
and fled, leaving their dead and dying on the
field.

So the little hill-town of Spinalunga was
saved by the children and their Angels, and
even to this day the piazza of the Cathedral
is their very own playground, in which no
one can prevent them from playing all the
year round.