Surprised, I halted, and waited whilst one of my men kindled a light in the lanthorn that he carried.
By its rays we beheld a pitiable sight in a corner of that building.

A man, quite young and of a tall and vigorous frame, lay stretched upon the straw.

He was fully dressed even to his great riding-boots, and from the loose manner in which his back-and-breast hung now upon him, it would seem as if he had been making shift to divest himself of his armour, but had lacked the strength to complete the task.

Beside him lay a feathered headpiece and a sword attached to a richly broidered baldrick.

All about him the straw was clotted with brown, viscous patches of blood.