“Look behind you!” yelled Godwin; but the spectators, pleased that the fight was not yet done, broke into a roar of cheers. Wulf heard and swung round. As he faced Lozelle the dagger struck him on the breast, and well must it have been for him that his mail was good. To use his sword he had neither space nor time, but ere the next stroke could fall Wulf’s arms were about Lozelle, and the fight for life begun.
To and fro they reeled and staggered, whirling round and round, till none could tell which of them was Wulf or which his foe. Now they were on the edge of the abyss, and, in that last dread strain for mastery, seemed to stand there still as stone. Then one man began to bend down. See! his head hung over. Further and further he bent, but his arms could not be loosened.
“They will both go!” cried the multitude in their joy.
Look! A dagger flashed. Once, twice, thrice it gleamed, and those wrestlers fell apart, while from deep down in the gulf came the thud of a fallen body.
“Which—oh, which?” cried Rosamund from her battlement.
“Sir Hugh Lozelle,” answered Godwin in a solemn voice.
Then the head of Rosamund fell forward on her breast, and for a while she seemed to sleep.
Wulf went to his horse, turned it about on the bridge, and throwing his arm around its neck, rested for a space. Then he mounted and walked slowly towards the inner gate. Pushing through the guard and officers, Godwin rode out to meet him.
“Bravely done, brother,” he said, when they came face to face. “Say, are you hurt?”
“Bruised and shaken—no more,” answered Wulf.