Then Bevidere, heart-full of shame, hastened away, and took the sword, turning his eyes manfully away from its jewelled hilt. Binding the girdle around it, with all the might of his arm he hurled the blade far out over the waves.
Then came a marvel. For as he followed the sword with his eyes, he saw a hand and arm rise above the waves to meet the blade. The hand caught it by the hilt, and brandished it thrice in the air, and then vanished with it into the water.
Bevidere, much wondering, hurried back to the king, and told him what he had seen.
"Now, Sir Bevidere, you have done as I bade you," said Arthur. "But much precious time have you lost. Help me hence, in God's name, for I fear that I have tarried over-long."
Then Bevidere took the king on his back and bore him to the water-side, and lo! there he saw another strange thing.
For close by the shore lay a little barge, which he had not seen before, and in it sat many fair ladies, among whom were three queens, who wore black hoods, and wept with bitter sorrow when they saw King Arthur.
"Now help me into the barge," said the king.
This Sir Bevidere did as gently as he could. And the three queens received the dying monarch with deep mourning, and had him laid between them, with his head on the lap of her who sat in the centre.
"Alas! dear brother, why have you tarried so long from me?" said this queen. "Much harm I fear from this sad wound."
And so they rowed from the land, while Bevidere stood on the shore sadly watching the barge go from him.