It was such a beautiful wood, and they were so happy talking together and listening to the birds' sweet song, that they rode along without noticing where they went.
So when the rain stopped and they wished to get back to the open road, they could not find the way. On and on they went, until they came to the mouth of a great dark cave.
The knight sprang from his horse, and giving his spear to the dwarf to hold, went forward to see what might be hidden in the darkness.
'Do not be so rash!' cried Una; 'I know that this is a terribly dangerous place, and that a dreadful monster stays in that black den!'
The frightened dwarf also begged him to come away, but the knight said, 'I should be ashamed to come back. If one is good, one need have no fear of the darkness.'
So into the darkness he went, and in the faint light that came from his shining armour he saw a hideous monster. It had a great ugly head and a long speckled tail like a serpent's, and it rushed at the knight, roaring furiously. He struck at it with his sword, but it wound its horrible tail around him, until he was nearly crushed to death.
Una called to him not to fear, but to strike the monster bravely. And he, smiting it with all his might, cut off its head.
Then Una and he rode joyfully onwards, and, as evening fell, they found a way out of the wood. On the road they met an old man who looked kind and good. He asked them to stay all night in his cottage in a little valley near at hand, and they gladly went.
This old man was a wicked magician, and all he wanted was to do them harm.
When they had lain down to rest, he began to work his magic on them. So well did he do it, that he made the Red Cross Knight believe that Una was very false and wicked, and that the best thing he could do was to go away from her. Very early in the morning the knight made the dwarf saddle his horse, and they went off together and left Una asleep in the house of the wicked magician.
When she awoke and found them gone, Una could only weep bitterly at what seemed to her their cruelty.
She rode after them as quickly as she could, but her little donkey could only go slowly, and in his anger and sorrow the knight had made his horse gallop so fast that she had no chance of overtaking them.