When they reached the second circle of the river, the damsel said:
"Here is the brother of the knight you overthrew. He is stronger than the first. You had better go home, kitchen boy."
Gareth answered nothing. Out of the tent by the bridge which crossed the second circle of water, came a knight, clad in armor which glowed like the sun. Lynette shouted to him:
"I bring a kitchen boy who has overthrown your brother."
"Ah!" shouted the knight, and rode fiercely at Sir Gareth.
The two fought for a long time. The warrior was strong, but Sir Gareth was stronger, and at last overthrew him, and sent him back to Arthur's Court.
The damsel Lynette had ridden far ahead of him. When he came near her, she said:
"The knight's horse slipped, and that is why you overcame him. And now are you ready to fight with the third knight, for there he stands?"
At the third and innermost circle of the river stood the third knight, clad not in armor, but in hardened skins. Sir Gareth saw that he was more powerful than his brothers. The two at once began to fight on the bridge, but Sir Gareth's sword could not pierce the hard skins. Again and again he tried and failed. He grew tired, and began to fear that he should be conquered. But all at once, when his strokes were becoming feeble, Lynette cried out to him:
"Well done, good knight! You are no kitchen boy, but a brave lord. Strike for me! Do not lose. You are worthy to be a Knight of the Round Table."
When Sir Gareth heard this, he was so encouraged that he made a final great effort and threw his enemy over the bridge into the water. Then he turned to Lynette, saying:
But Lynette, proud now of her valiant escort, and humbled and ashamed at her misjudging of him, said:
"No, we shall ride side by side. I am very sorry I called you a kitchen boy, for I know that you are a noble knight."
They rode happily side by side till dusk, when they came in sight of Castle Perilous. Just as they were about to cross the moat, a knight overtook them. It was Sir Lancelot, who had been delayed because he had stopped to help Sir Kay after Sir Gareth had thrown him from his horse.
The great knight, as he rode up to the two in the twilight, seeing only the shields which Sir Gareth had taken from the three knights, thought the young man was an enemy, and attacked him. Sir Lancelot was so strong that he soon overcame the youth.