to him
as if some object was moving among them. The distant form separated
itself from the trees, which partly hid its motions, and advanced
towards the knight with a speed which soon showed a mounted horseman,
whom his turban, long spear, and green caftan floating in the wind, on
his nearer approach, showed to be a Saracen cavalier.

"In the desert," saith an Eastern proverb, "no man meets a friend." The
Crusader was totally indifferent whether the infidel, who now approached
on his gallant barb, as if borne on the wings of an eagle, came as
friend or foe; perhaps, as a vowed champion of the Cross, he might
rather have preferred the latter. He disengaged his lance from his
saddle, seized it with the right hand, placed it in rest with its point
half-elevated, gathered up the reins in the left, waked his horse's
mettle with the spur, and prepared to encounter the stranger with the
calm self-confidence belonging to the victor in many contests.

The Saracen came on at the speedy gallop of an Arab horseman, managing
his steed more by his limbs and the inflection of his body than by any
use of the reins, which hung loose in his left hand; so that he was
enabled to wield the light round buckler of the skin of the rhinoceros,
ornamented with silver loops, which he wore on his arm, swinging it as
if he meant to oppose its slender circle to the formidable thrust of the
Western lance. His own long spear was not couched or levelled like that
of his antagonist, but grasped by the middle with his right hand, and
brandished at arm's length above his head.

As the cavalier approached his enemy at full career, he seemed to expect
that the Knight of the Leopard should put his horse to the gallop to
encounter him. But the Christian knight, well acquainted with the
customs of Eastern warriors, did not mean to exhaust his good horse by
any unnecessary exertion; and, on the contrary, made a dead halt,
confident that, if the enemy advanced to the actual shock, his own
weight, and that of his powerful charger, would give him sufficient
advantage, without the additional momentum of rapid motion. Equally
sensible and apprehensive of such a probable result, the Saracen
cavalier, when he had approached towards the Christian within twice the
length of his lance, wheeled his steed to the left with inimitable
dexterity, and rode twice around his antagonist, who, turning without
quitting his ground, and presenting his front constantly to his enemy