156 THE WONDER-BOOK OF HORSES 



he knew that the day was lost, he kept on fighting 

 hke a tiger. 



At last Ogier is unhorsed. Broiefort, mad- 

 dened for the moment, flees across the field, pur- 

 sued by a hundred soldiers. Flinging right and 

 left with his heels, he kills three squires and five 

 horses, and puts a whole company of Frenchmen 

 to flight. Not a weapon can be made to touch 

 him. Men say that he has a charmed life. Com- 

 ing to the top of a little knoll, he turns his head 

 and looks back. He sees his master in the 

 midst of the melee, surrounded by enemies, 

 with one knee on the ground, fighting a losing 

 fight. Shall he desert his friend in his greatest 

 need? 



He wheels about and returns to the field, scat- 

 tering his three hundred pursuers before him. 

 Ogier has begun to lose hope. His sword is 

 broken. The Frenchmen are closing upon him. 

 Suddenly he hears a neigh, and looking up he 

 sees Broiefort pressing toward him through the 

 crowd. In another moment he has swung him- 

 self into the saddle, and knight and steed are fly- 

 ing over the plain with — as truthful old stories 

 tell us — fifteen thousand men in hot pursuit. But 

 who can overtake Broiefort? 



