One afternoon in July Raymond and a score of young knights rode south-eastwards along the sand-dunes, each knight accompanied by a mounted serving-man and a number of hounds. The country was not of a nature to yield much sport, yet, eager to while away the time, the little cavalcade rode carelessly on over the low sandhills.
On their right spread the blue waters of the English Channel, in front towered the chalky heights of Gris-nez, while behind lay the red-tiled houses and grey walls of Calais, with the semicircle of tents that marked the English lines.
At length they reached the summit of a low hill, and here they reined in their steeds.
"No sign of a living creature," remarked one of the party, "though the land away on our left seemeth well wooded. How call you yonder forest, Armand?" he inquired, addressing one of the attendants, a Gascon who had spent the greater part of his life in the neighbourhood of Calais.
"'Tis the forest of Ambleteuse, sir," replied the man; "there the wild boar is to be found."
"Ah There is good sport, fair sirs Let us ride forward."
Half-an-hour's sharp canter brought them to the edge of the wood, and in a long, straggling line the gay-hearted Englishmen, with loud shouts and many a blast upon their horns, plunged into the gloom of the forest glades.
For a while no signs of animal life appeared, then suddenly there came from one of the rearmost horsemen shouts of "A boar!"
Instantly the party turned, and crashing through the underwood, made towards the sound. Raymond, who had been in the van, now found himself in the rear, and, spurring his steed and calling to his attendant to follow, he strove to overtake his companions, while the loud grunts of the hunted boar could be distinctly heard amid the snapping of the brushwood.
At length the glade descended towards a babbling brook, and here the press of horsemen became so thick that many were riding hip to hip. Suddenly Raymond's horse trod in a rabbit-hole, and before he could realise what had happened he found himself hurtling through the air and striking the soft earth with a heavy thud. Fortunately, the young knight was lightly clad, and fell without injury, but on leaping to his feet he saw his body-servant lying, senseless on the ground, while the two steeds, entangled in their fall, were madly kicking each other with their iron-shod hoofs.