And
the one who had escaped went to them, and told them what had happened,
and that the whole French army would surely come up that way on the
next day or the day after that. Therefore the Seljuks mounted, and came
and lay in ambush, and two hundred of them rode down into the valley
and hid themselves among the trees where the steep way began which was
the right way. For they knew the mountains, and feared lest at the last
moment the White Fiend, as they called Gilbert, might find out his
mistake and choose that path to the pass, and save all; whereas on the
steep ridge, under cover of trees, two hundred chosen bowmen, each with
a great sheaf of arrows, might turn back a host. So the night passed,
and Gilbert was undisturbed; but great evil was prepared for the army,
though his messengers reached the camp and repeated his words to the
King before nightfall.
It lacked two hours of noon when Sir Gaston de Castignac and a dozen
other knights, and Gilbert's ten men, turned the spur of the mountain
where the broad green valley opened, having on their right the wooded
ridge where the two hundred Seljuks were hidden. A moment later the
Queen herself came up, with Anne of Auch and a hundred knights, and she
supposed that they should have ridden through the valley; but Castignac
stopped her and told her what the men said, and that they must all
begin the ascent from that point. The valley was inviting, with its
pleasant water and its broad meadow, and some of the knights murmured;
but when Eleanor heard that Gilbert had chosen the steeper way, she had
no doubt, and bade them all be silent; yet as there was much space on
the grass, and as the men said that the ascent was long, it seemed
better to halt awhile before beginning to climb.
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