"
"I give you my army," said Eleanor. "Command all, and do your best."
For one moment Gilbert looked hard at her, scarcely believing that she
meant the words. But she raised herself in her saddle, and called out
in a loud voice to the hundreds of nobles and knights who had already
come up.
"Sir Gilbert Warde commands the army!" she cried. "Follow the Guide of
Aquitaine!"
There was light in his face as he silently bowed his head and mounted.
"Sirs," he said, when he was in the saddle, "the way by which I shall
lead you to rescue the King is narrow; therefore follow me in good
order, two and two, all those who have sure-footed horses. But beyond
the defile as many as a thousand may fight without hindering each
other. The rest encamp here and protect the Queen and her ladies.
Forward!"
He saluted Eleanor and rode away, leaving her there. She hesitated and
looked longingly after him, but Anne of Auch laid a hand upon her
bridle.
"Madam," she said, "your place is here, where there is no one to
command. And here also there may be danger before long."
All the time, the dreadful din of fight came up from below, louder and
louder. The Seljuks had waited until not less than five thousand men,
with the King himself, had passed through the narrow channel from the
lower valley and choked the upper gorge, pushed on by those behind; and
then, from their hiding-places among the rocks and trees, they had
sprung up in their thousands to kill those taken in the trap like mice.
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