My dismay was complete when, the next moment, the frightened animal which Odile rode, rearing up at the boar's furious onslaught, lost its footing in the treacherous bog-land and fell on its side,—happily upon its right side.
"I FELL UPON MY KNEE BEFORE THE BRUTE."
Leaping to the ground, I had only time to seize my love about the waist and swing her beyond the reach of the horse's flying hoofs, when the boar was upon me. There was no time for reflection. I fell upon my knees before the brute, my hunting-knife extended straight before me, and held with all the strength of my arm.
So quickly works the eye sometimes, in moments of danger, that in this instant I saw the Count, or rather, perhaps, he came within my range of vision, pale as death, and riding at the highest speed along the opposite path, while close behind him followed Gideon and Kraft.
The knife in my hand never swerved, for the love I bore Odile steadied my arm as I fancy that alone could have done. The mad rush of the boar was but the means of his surer destruction. He came straight upon the knife, and the momentum of his ponderous body drove the steel deep through his heart. I felt the gush of his life's blood pour over my arm and chest; then I heard a cry from Odile's lips and a shout of wild triumph from the Count and his huntsmen; then I fell backwards, my consciousness half crushed out by the enormous weight of the brute's body as it struck against me in its swaying fall to the earth.
A moment later Odile, oblivious to all around her, had thrown herself into my arms and burst into uncontrollable tears. The crisis of the moment just passed had completely unnerved her and robbed her of her usual calm control.
We stood thus when the Count reined up before us.
"Ha! is it so?" he exclaimed, endeavoring to hide his emotion beneath a joking exterior. "And why not? Who deserves better of a woman than the lad who has saved her life and her father's too!" And as Sebalt and Gideon rode up, all three jumped from their saddles and wrung my hands, while good old Sperver beamed with gratified pride, and pulled the brim of his hat down over his eyes to screen them from the glare of the sun.