settled into an even gallop. Tryon's lance, held
truly and at the right angle, captured the first ring,
then the second and third. His coolness and steadiness
seemed not at all disturbed by the applause
which followed, and one by one the remaining rings
slipped over the point of his lance, until at the end
he had taken every one of the twelve. Holding
the lance with its booty of captured rings in his
left hand, together with the bridle rein, he drew his
sabre with the right and rode back over the course.
His horse moved like clockwork, his eye was true
and his hand steady. Three of the wooden balls
fell from the posts, split fairly in the middle, while
from the fourth he sliced off a goodly piece and left
the remainder standing in its place.

This performance, by far the best up to this
point, and barely escaping perfection, elicited a
storm of applause. The rider was not so well
known to the townspeople as some of the other
participants, and his name passed from mouth to
mouth in answer to numerous inquiries. The girl
whose token he had worn also became an object of
renewed interest, because of the result to her in
case the knight should prove victor in the contest,
of which there could now scarcely be a doubt; for
but three riders remained, and it was very improbable
that any one of them would excel the last.
Wagers for the remainder of the tourney stood
anywhere from five, and even from ten to one, in