"Hold! and hear me-even me!" exclaimed Boanerges, grasping the reins of the plunging and fiery steed-" hear me, I say, that thou quench not the light of Israel." And as he stood checking the horse and his rider in their might, his head and feet naked, his beard and hairy garments streaming in the wind, while Raymond looked down on him with impatience and doubt, he was no mean image of an ancient prophet, a Micaiah, or a Jeremiah, withstanding a king of Israel as he made himself ready for battle. "Hath not the Lord delivered them into thy hand? and shall a hair of the head of the meanest of my lord's servants fall to the ground this day because of them? Tarry till they are inclosed in the valley, where they thought to slay the flock with the shepherd: is it not a place of marshes and springs of water, where the feet of their horses shall stumble and be snared? And when they lie before thee like a wild bull in a net, then shoot out thine arrows and

consume them.

Behold I, even I," he cried,

exalting his awful voice-" I say unto this people, as Moses said unto the children of Israel when the Egyptians pursued after

6

them, Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord this day.'"

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Thy counsel pleaseth me well," said Count Raymond, (as the last counsel he heard was always sure to do). "I would not," he added, muttering to himself, “that felon lord had even a chance of flight to save his forfeit life.”

The situation of the ground was indeed eminently favourable to the mode of warfare suggested: hills above hills in endless undulation, some shrouded in mist, some sheltered by wood, afforded a thousand points of concealment to the army of the Albigeois, who had possessed themselves of their summits. At the foot of that where Count Raymond and his knights were posted, was a narrow and rocky valley, intersected with many streams, and closed at the extremity by a perpendicular mass of rock.

Here the Albigeois hoped that the Crusaders might direct their course, as the spot closely resembled that where they had retreated the preceding night;---nor were they deceived in their expectations.

The band of knights, after riding for some space diffusedly, as men in search of pastime, began to approach the valley. With that infatuation which seemed to rule all their counsels and movements that day, they determined, in the very wantonness of their assured success, to feast under the shelter of some rocks during the heat of the day, and play at chess for the lives of the heretics, like Benhadad of yore carousing in his pavilion while his enemies were arraying their battle against him. Tents and tables were quickly spread by the attendants of the Abbot of Normoutier and of the lady Isabelle; and this delay gave time to the forces of Count Raymond to possess themselves of every vantage-post and point of assault, also to refresh themselves, being weary as men who had marched all night.

The mountains had cast their shadows deep and broad into the valley, when the Crusaders, after placing the lady Isabelle and her attendants on a wooded knoll, and taking their leave with the joyous gestures and shouts of men who were parting to a feast, began to enter the valley. A disposition had been effectually made for their reception. Every summit of the surrounding hills was covered with parties of the Albigeois, screened by thickets or clumps of trees; even the low sides of that rocky valley were hung, wherever the shelter of a crag was interposed, with archers and slingers. A few of the fugitive Albigeois were posted conspicuously on the heights, as if they had just made their escape, so far as to tempt pursuit, by appearing to point out where the rest were concealed.

The Crusaders rushed in a wild, tumultuous train into the valley, descrying a few fugitives on the rocks that enclosed it, and believing the rest had shrunk amid its ca

verns and cliffs; disregarding the fractured rocks that formed its bed, and the streams that divided them, and amid which their horses were now up to their haunches, now struggling for a precarious footing amid the stony paths, till they had almost reached its extremity, without discovering an individual, and their progress was checked by that perpendicular mass of rock, against which the foremost rider almost dashed the chevron of his barded steed before he perceived it was an unscaleable barrier.

The Albigeois watched their prey in silence: not an archer drew his bow-not a slinger raised his arm-till the last knight had rode into the defile. Then from hill, and cliff, and crag--from every thicket, bush, and almost bough-from front and rearfrom flank to flank-down rained the arrowshower, thicker than the mountain-rain; and fast came mingled the sling-stones, like hail in a mountain storm: and every shaft had its mark-and every stone left its dint-and the whole assault seemed dealt by invisible