the courtly world rose to its feet and bent forward — the fateful coils went circling through the air, and before you could wink I was towing Sir Launcelot across the field on his back, and kissing my hand to the storm of waving kerchiefs and the thunder-crash of applause that greeted me!

Said I to myself, as I coiled my lariat and hung it on my saddle-horn, and sat there drunk with glory, “The victory is perfect — no other will venture against me — knight-errantry is dead.” Now imagine my astonishment — and everybody else’s, too — to hear the peculiar bugle-call which announces that another competitor is about to enter the lists!

There was a mystery here; I couldn’t account for this thing. Next, I noticed Merlin gliding away from me;