And
therewithal they stayed them. For the wood turned somewhat here, so
as to hide all but a little of the plain, and round the wood neb the
new-comers hove in sight, and were close on them at once, so that
they might see them clearly, to wit, a knight weaponed, clad all in
red, a very big man, riding on a great bay horse, and behind him a
woman going afoot in very piteous plight; for she was tethered to the
horse's crupper by a thong that bound her wrists together, so that
she had but just room left 'twixt her and the horse that she might
walk, and round about her neck was hung a man's head newly hewn off.
This sight they all saw at once, and were out of the wood in a trice
with weapons aloft, for they knew both the man and the woman, that
they were the Red Knight and Birdalone.
So swift and sudden had they been, that he had no time either to spur
or even to draw his sword; but he had a heavy steel axe in his hand
as the first man came up to him, which was the tall Baudoin; and
therewith he smote down on Baudoin so fierce and huge a stroke, that
came on him betwixt neck and shoulder, that all gave way before it,
and the Golden Knight fell to earth all carven and stark dead: but
even therewith fell Hugh, the squire, and the sergeant on the Red
Knight; for Arthur had run to Birdalone and sheared her loose from
her tether.
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