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selves from that sudden storm-blast of death. On either side the seamen whom Sir Nigel had chosen for the purpose had cast their anchors over the side of the galleys, so that the three vessels, locked in an iron grip, lurched heavily forward upon the swell.

And now set in a fell and fierce fight, one of a thousand of which no chronicler has spoken and no poet sung. Through all the centuries, and over all those southern waters nameless men have fought in nameless places, their sole monument a protected coast and an unravaged countryside.

Fore and aft the archers had cleared the galley's decks, but from either side the rovers had poured down into the waist, where the seamen and bowmen were pushed back and so mingled with their foes that it was impossible for their comrades above to draw string to help them. It was a wild chaos where axe and sword rose and fell, while Englishman, Norman, and Italian staggered and reeled on a deck which was cumbered with bodies and slippery with blood. The clang of blows, the cries of the stricken, the short deep shout of the islanders, and the fierce whoops of the rovers, rose together in a deafening tumult, while the breath of the panting men went up in the wintry air like the smoke from a furnace. The giant Tête-noire, towering above his fellows and clad from head to foot in plate of proof, led on his boarders, waving a huge mace in the air, with which he struck to the deck every man who opposed him. On the other side, Spade-beard, a dwarf in height, but of great breadth of shoulder and length of arm, had cut a road almost to the mast, with three score Genoese men-at-arms close at his heels. Between these two formidable assailants the seamen were being

slowly wedged more closely together, until they stood back to back under the mast with the rovers raging upon every side of them.

Coif. Hood, head-dress.
Head-piece. Helmet.
Catapult. The "mangonel
Scarlet cap. The "red coif".
Bassinet. A light helmet, generally
without any protection for the
face. It was so called because
it looked so much like a basin.
Quarrel. A bolt from a cross-bow
having a diamond-shaped head.
Hence when panes were diamond-
shaped the word came to be used
in English and in Welsh for a
pane of glass.

Lure. Bait, enticement. The word
was originally used for the falcon
er's method of recalling a hawk.

Benison. Blessing.

Shrouds. The ropes stretching

from the tops of the masts to the sides of the ship.

Levant. Literally the place where
the sun rises; the East (Turkey,
Asia Minor, etc.).

Shambles. The place where animals
are killed for the butcher.
Unravaged. Unplundered.
Chaos. Confusion (as of the land
and the water before the creation
of the world).

Plate of proof. Armour made of
steel plates strong enough to
resist all weapons.

LESSON 55.

HOW THE YELLOW COG FOUGHT THE

PIRATES.

PART IV.

BUT help was close at hand. Sir Oliver Buttesthorn with his men-at-arms had swarmed down from the forecastle, while Sir Nigel, with his three squires, Black Simon, Aylward, Hordle John, and a score more, threw themselves from the poop and hurled themselves into the thickest of the fight. Alleyne, as in duty bound, kept his eyes fixed ever on his lord, and pressed forward close at his heels. Often had he heard of Sir Nigel's prowess and skill with all knightly weapons; but all the tales that had reached his ears fell far short of the real quickness and coolness of the man. He sprang here and sprang there, now thrusting and now cutting,

catching blows on his shield, turning them with his blade, stooping under the swing of an axe, springing over the sweep of a sword, so swift and so erratic that the man who braced himself for a blow at him might find him six paces off ere he could bring it down. Three pirates had fallen before him, and he had wounded Spade-beard in the neck, when the Norman giant sprang at him from the side with a slashing blow from his deadly mace. Sir Nigel stooped to avoid it, and at the same instant turned a thrust from the Genoese swordsman, but, his foot slipping in a pool of blood, he fell heavily to the boards. Alleyne sprang in front of the Norman, but his sword was shattered and he himself beaten to the boards by a second blow from the ponderous weapon. Ere the pirate chief could repeat it, however, John's iron grip fell upon his wrist, and he found that for once he was in the hands of a stronger man than himself. Fiercely he strove to disengage his weapon; but Hordle John bent his arm slowly back until, with a sharp crack, like a breaking stave, it turned limp in his grasp, and the mace dropped from his nerveless fingers. In vain he tried to pick it up with the other hand. Back and back

still his foeman bent him, until, with a roar of pain and of fury, the giant clanged his full length upon the boards, while the glimmer of a knife before the bars of his helmet warned him that short would be his shrift if he moved.

Cowed and disheartened by the loss of their leader, the Normans had given back and were now streaming over the bulwarks on to their own galley, dropping a dozen at a time on to their deck. But the anchor still held them in its crooked claw, and Sir Oliver with

fifty men was hard upon their heels. Now, too, the archers had room to draw their bows once more, and great stones from the yard of the cog came thundering and crashing among the flying rovers. Here and there

they rushed with wild screams and curses, diving under the sail, crouching behind booms, huddling into corners like rabbits when the ferrets are upon them, as helpless and as hopeless. They were stern days, and if the honest soldier, too poor for a ransom, had no prospect of mercy upon the battle-field, what ruth was there for sea robbers, the enemies of human kind taken in the very deed, with proofs of their crimes still swinging upon their yard-arm?

But the fight had taken a new and strange turn upon the other side. Spade-beard and his men had given slowly back, hard pressed by Sir Nigel, Aylward, Black Simon, and the poop-guard. Foot by foot the Italian had retreated, his armour running blood at every joint, his shield split, his crest shorn, his voice fallen away to a mere gasping and croaking. Yet he faced his foemen with dauntless courage, dashing in, springing back, sure-footed, steady-handed, with a point which seemed to menace three at once. Beaten back on to the deck of his own vessel, and closely followed by a dozen Englishmen, he disengaged himself from them, ran swiftly down the deck, sprang back into the cog once more, cut the rope which held the anchor, and was back in an instant among his cross-bowmen. At the same time the Genoese soldiers thrust with their oars against the side of the cog, and a rapidly widening rift appeared between the two vessels.

"By St. George!" cried Ford, "we are cut off from Sir Nigel."

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"He is lost," gasped Terlake. Come, let us spring for it." The two youths jumped with all their strength to reach the departing galley. Ford's feet reached the edge of the bulwarks, and his hand clutching a rope he swung himself on board. Terlake fell short, crashed in among the oars, and bounded off into the sea. Alleyne, staggering to the side, was about to hurl himself after him, but Hordle John dragged him back by the girdle. "You can scarce stand, lad, far less jump," said he. "See how the blood drips from your bassinet."

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My place is by the flag," cried Alleyne, vainly struggling to break from the other's hold.

"Bide here, man. You would need wings ere you could reach Sir Nigel's side."

The vessels were indeed so far apart now that the Genoese could use the full sweep of their oars, and draw away rapidly from the cog.

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Heavens! but it is a noble fight!" shouted big John, clapping his hands. They have cleared the poop, and they spring into the waist. Well struck, my lord! Well struck, Aylward! See to Black Simon, how he storms among the ship-men! But this Spadebeard is a gallant warrior. He rallies his men upon the forecastle. He hath slain an archer. Ha! my lord is upon him. Look to it, Alleyne! See to the whirl and glitter of it!"

"By heaven, Sir Nigel is down!" cried the squire. "Up!" roared John. "It was but a feint. He bears him back. He drives him to the side. Ah, by our Lady, his sword is through him! They cry for mercy. Down goes the red cross, and up springs Simon with the scarlet roses!"

The death of the Genoese leader did indeed bring

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