below upon the plates of fine steel, broke, so that only the handle remained in his hand. Not for this was he a whit dismayed; he saw the Giant could not pluck his axe from the shield, and he ran and caught it by the handle also; both struggled; it was on that side where the stirrup had been cut away, so that Basagante lost his balance, the horse started and he fell, and Beltenebros got the battle-axe. The Giant drew his sword in great fury, and would have ran at the Knight, but the nerves of his leg were cut through; he fell upon one knee, and Beltenebros smote him on the helmet, that the laces burst and it fell off. He seeing his enemy so near, thought with his sword, which was very long, to smite off his head; the blow was aimed too high, it cut off the whole crown of the helmet, and cut away the hair with it. Beltenebros drew back; the helmet fell over his head upon his shoulders, and Leonoreta and the Damsels, who were on their knees in the waggon praying to God to deliver them, tore their hair and began to shriek and call upon the Virgin, thinking he was surely slain. He himself put up his hand to feel if he were wounded to death, but feeling no harm, made again at the Giant, whose sword falling upon a stone in the last blow had broken. Basagante's heart failed him now, he made one stroke more, and cut him slightly in the leg with the broken sword; but Beltenebros let drive the battle-axe at his head; it cut away the ear and the cheek and the jaw, and Basagante fell, writhing in the agony of death.