With trembling haste and breathless,

With noiseless step she sped; Horses and weary cattle

Were standing in the shed;

She loosed the strong white charger
That fed from out her hand;

She mounted, and she turned his head.
Towards her native land.
Out-out into the darkness

Faster, and still more fast;
The smooth grass flies behind her,
The chestnut wood is past;

She looks up; clouds are heavy;
Why is her steed so slow?—
Scarcely the wind beside them
Can pass them as they go.
"Faster!" she cries, "oh, faster!"
Eleven the church bells chime;
"O God," she cries, "help Bregenz,
And bring me there in time!"

But louder than bells' ringing,
Or lowing of the kine,
Grows nearer in the midnight
The rushing of the Rhine.
She strives to pierce the blackness
And looser throws the rein;

Her steed must breast the waters

That dash above his mane.

"Nine," "ten," "eleven," he cries aloud,
And then (Oh, crown of Fame !),
When midnight pauses in the skies,
He calls the maiden's name!

MOR

IX. THE KNIGHTS OF OLD.

ORE than a thousand years ago there lived in the part of the world that is now called France a famous king whose name was Charlemagne. This Charlemagne was a very wonderful man.

He was strong, brave in

battle, noble and generous, and also a very wise ruler. He made one great kingdom out of what was before many petty tribes and states.

King Charlemagne gathered about him many brave, noble knights to grace his court and fight his battles. Fighting was then thought to be the noblest work that man could do, for Charlemagne lived in the Dark Ages, as they were called. His knights, clad in suits of armor, used to go about the country seeking battles with other knights. They usually fought in the name and for the glory of some lady whose favor they expected to win.

You must understand that in those days gunpowder was not known; so battles were fought hand to hand, with swords and spears. The knights, and the horses that they rode, were covered with suits of steel armor to protect them from the blows of the enemy. The men wore metal helmets on their heads, breastplates of steel to protect them in front, and even steel gauntlets to protect their hands and arms. Indeed, there was no part of the body that was not covered with armor.

The knights of King Charlemagne were called "paladins," and though they often fought with the other knights of France, for the ladies or for glory, their chief enemies were the followers of a great conqueror whose name was Mohammed. These were a wild, warlike people who had conquered Jerusalem and the Holy Land, who ruled all the northern part of Africa and had finally come in great numbers into France and Spain. They were known as Saracens. Between them and the paladins of Charlemagne many fierce battles were fought.

Ariosto was a poet who lived in Italy, the land where the Romans once lived. He wrote a book which he called "Orlando Furioso," in which he told many tales of battles. which were supposed to have been fought between the paladins and Saracens. Some of these tales have been rewritten in our language, and published in a volume entitled "Paladin and Saracen." I hope many of you will read them. One of these tales is as follows.

X. THE ADVENTURES OF BRADAMANTE.1

MA

BY LUDOVICO ARIOSTO.

CHAPTER I.

ANY were the brave deeds done by the paladins of France, and when I have told you a few of them you will easily believe that so gallant a band of knights never fought under the banner of any prince before or afterwards. And one of the boldest and most skillful warriors in the great Emperor's army was a gentle maiden born of the noblest family of France.

1 Brad'a-mante (Brad'a-mant).