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THE PALACE.
153
dressed in silk, or cloth, or leather, having laid aside
their heavy armor to enjoy the cool of the evening.
Ever as the troop rode on the cry arose,
" Here comes
the king, onr noble and heloved king
! God bless Tving
Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table "
!
And the king, turning his face this
way and that,
smiled back a greeting like that of a father to his children.
Rhoda, watching him, wished that she too might
call him king, and live forever in his sight.
So through the town the troop passed on until they
reached a hill, in the midst of which Merlin had built a
palace for the king, so wonderful and so magnificent
that all the people from far and near crowded to look at
it and take pride in it. In the centre was a hall lighted
by twelve great windows, each one painted with the
story of one of the twelve great battles fought and won
by Arthur in combat with the heathen who filled the
land when he became king, and whom he subdued and
banished. Besides these twelve windows was another
at the east, pictured with the story of the finding of
Exealibur ;
and another opposite it at the west, where
was shown that last great battle upon the sea-ehore,
where Arthur met his rebellious knights headed by his
kinsman Modred, and where the strength and flower of
the Round Table fell
by each others hand.
In this battle it was that the king received the
grievous hurt of which some men say he died; but
others know that a great boat was waiting for him upon