in green and the third in black; and their faces were as the faces of
Aurea and Viridis and Atra.

Then there came forth from that ship a huge cruel roar blent with
mocking laughter that shamed our very hearts, and those evil things
in the form of mariners took hold of each one of the ladies and cast
them overboard into the gulf of the waters, first Aurea, next
Viridis, and then Atra; and we two stood up with our useless swords
brandished and would have leapt over into the deep, but that Arthur
arose also and took hold of an arm of each of us and stayed us, and
said: Nay, then, if ye go, take me with you, and let all the Quest
sink down into the deep, and let our lovelings pine in captivity, and
Birdalone lose all her friends in one swoop, and we be known
hereafter as the fools of lovers, the unstable.

So we sat us down, but huge shrieking laughter rose up unblended from
the keel of the evil thing, and then they let her go down the wind,
and she went her way with flashing of arms, and streaming of banners
and pennons, and blowing of horns, and the sun was setting over the
wide water.

But Arthur spake: Cheer up, brethren! see ye not how this proud
witch is also but an eyeless fool to send us such a show, and the
second time in one day to show us the images of our dearlings, who
hours ago flitted past us in the stripe-sailed boat? Where, then,
did they of the ship meet with them? Nay, lords, let not the anguish
of love steal all your wits.

We saw we had been fools to be so overcast by guile, and yet were we
exceeding ill at ease, and over-long the time seemed unto us until we