Fast they rode in pursuit, and presently they came to a cross where
was a poor cowherd keeping watch over his few beasts, and of him
they asked whether any had passed that way. "Sirs," said the
peasant, "even now there rode past the cross a lady most lovely to
look upon, and with her forty knights." Greatly the King marvelled
how Queen Morgan le Fay had come by such a cavalcade, but nothing
he doubted that it was she the cowherd had seen. So thanking the
poor man, the King, with Sir Ontzlake, rode on by the path that had
been shown them, and presently, emerging from the forest, they were
aware of a glittering company of horsemen winding through a wide
plain that lay stretched before them. On the instant, they put
spurs to their horses and galloped as fast as they might in
pursuit.

But, as it chanced, Queen Morgan le Fay looked back even as Arthur
and Sir Ontzlake came forth from the forest, and seeing them, she
knew at once that her theft had been discovered, and that she was
pursued. Straightway she bade her knights ride on till they should
come to a narrow valley where lay many great stones; but as soon as
they had left her, she herself rode, with all speed, to a mere hard
by. Sullen and still it lay, without even a ripple on its surface.
No animal ever drank of its waters nor bird sang by it, and it was
so deep that none might ever plumb it. And when the Queen had come
to the brink, she dismounted. From the folds of her dress she drew
the scabbard, and waving it above her head, she cried, "Whatsoever
becometh of me, King Arthur shall not have this scabbard." Then,
whirling it with all her might, she flung it far into the mere. The
jewels glinted as the scabbard flashed through the air, then it
clove the oily waters of the lake and sank, never again to be seen.