A large spot of blood lay at his feet, staining the pavement.

On the other side of the choir, a dozen feet from the blood, was another stain, not less large, nor less red, nor less recent.

It seemed to make a pendant for the first.
One of these stains was to the right, the other to the left of that sort of pedestal intended, as we have said, to support the eagle lectern--the pedestal which Sir John had selected for his place of waiting.

Roland went up to it.

It was drenched with blood! Evidently the drama had taken place on that spot; a drama which, if all the signs were true, must have been terrible.
Roland, in his double capacity of huntsman and soldier, was keen at a quest.