第487页 / 共788页

Gerwazy called to mind the days of old, and bade them give him

the belts from their kontuszes, and with them he drew from the

Soplicas' cellar casks of old brandy, mead, and beer. Some they

broached at once; others the gentry, thick as ants, seized with a

will and rolled to the castle. There the whole throng gathered

for the night encampment; there were established the Count's

headquarters.

They laid a hundred fires, boiled, broiled, and roasted; the

tables bent beneath the meat, and drink flowed in a river. The

gentry were minded to eat, drink, and sing the whole night

through, but slowly they began to doze and yawn; eye after eye

was extinguished, and the whole company nodded their heads; each

fell where he sat, one with a platter, one over a tankard, one by

a quarter of beef. Thus the victors were conquered at last by

Sleep, the brother of Death.

BOOK IX.-THE BATTLE

ARGUMENT