"That assigned to your son. We at once hastened to render help,
and, after some fruitless search, heard the horn once more, and,
guided by its sound, reached a spot where the groans of one in pain
fell upon our ear, amidst the increasing darkness of the forest. We
found the victim, his horn by his side, dead--pierced through by an
arrow. The life had been ebbing when, hearing our signals, he had
striven with his last breath to summon us that he might not die
alone, and, indeed, his face looked as one who had died in awful
fear with some gruesome sight before his eyes."
"To what party did he belong?"
"He wore the badge of Aescendune, he was short of stature, one
shoulder somewhat higher than the other, and he wore this belt,
which we have brought home in hopes he may be known thereby."
The baron took the belt, with hands which shook in spite of all his
efforts at composure, and knew it to belong to one Torquelle, who
had been in attendance on his son.
"Etienne hath found foes," he said in a voice which he strove to
render calm.
"A light snow had begun to fall," continued the speaker, "the sun
was already very low, and it was dusk in the woods, when our dogs
began to growl. Dimly in the shade we saw three or four beings
creeping forward, as if studying the ground carefully.
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