Then Gilbert stood out before the rest and
waited for the Queen, who cantered forward and halted beside him. She
began to speak somewhat hurriedly, and she constantly looked about her,
rather than into his face, telling him how they had fought in the wood,
and how the King and many of the host had gone round by the valley.
Thereat Gilbert became very anxious.
"The ladies are following me," said Eleanor, gently, for she knew why
he was pale.
As she spoke, a cry came on the air, wild, distinct as the scream of
the hungry falcon, but it was the cry of thousands.
"Hurr! Hurr! Hurr!"
"The Seljuks are upon them," said Gilbert, "for that cry is from the
pass above the valley. God have mercy on the souls of Christian men!"
Dunstan, who knew him well, brought his horse at the first alarm.
"By your Grace's leave," said Gilbert, taking the bridle to mount, "I
will take my men and do what I can to help them. I have explored the
way round this mountain, and every man who follows me may kill ten
Seljuks at an advantage, from above, just as the Seljuks are now
slaying the King's men, below them."
"Hurr! Hurr! Kill! Kill!"
Ear-piercing, wild, the cry of slaughter came up from the valley again
and again, and worse sounds came now on the clear air, the howls of men
pressed together and powerless, slain in hundreds with arrows and
stones, and the unearthly shrieks of horses wounded to death.
"They are in thousands," said Gilbert, listening. "I must have more
men.
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