harp sword that by his flank hung great and strong. But by some
magic the warrior had recovered his spear; and as the young man came
forward he hurled it again, and it drove through the neck of the young
man at the joint of his armor, and he fell in the dust. After that the
sun was darkened; and in a moment more I was looking into an empty
blackness.

When again the light returned it was once more with the full blaze of
mid-day that the scene was illumined, and the glare of the sun was
reflected from the burning sands of the desert. Two or three palms
arose near a well, and there two horsemen faced each other warily. One
was a Christian knight in a coat of linked mail, over which he wore a
surcoat of embroidered cloth, much frayed and bearing more than once
the arms of the wearer--a couchant leopard. The other was a Saracen,
who was circling swiftly about the knight of the leopard. The crusader
suddenly seized the mace which hung at his saddle-bow, and with a
strong hand and unerring aim sent it crashing against the head of his
foe, who raised his buckler of rhinoceros-hide in time to save his
life, though the force of the blow bore him from the saddle. The knight
spurred his steed forward, but the Saracen leaped into his seat again
without touching the stirrup. While the Christian recovered his mace,
the infidel withdrew to a little distance and strung the short bow he
carried at his back. Then he circled about his foe, whose armor stood
him in good stead, until the seventh shaft apparently found a less
perfect part, and the Christian dropped heavily from his horse. But the
dismounted Oriental found himself suddenly in the grasp of the
European, who had recourse to this artifice to bring his enemy within
his reach. The Saracen was saved again by his agility; and loosing his
sword-belt, which the knight had grasped, he mounted his watching
horse. He had lost his sword and his arrows and his turban, and these
disadvantages seemed to incline him for a truce. He approached the
Christian with his right hand extended, but no longer in a menacing
attitude. What the result of this proffer of a parley might be I could
not observe, for the figures became indistinct, as though a cloud had
settled down on them; and in a few seconds more all was blank before
me.

When the next scene grew slowly into view I thought for a moment it
might be a continuation of the preceding, for the country I beheld was
also soaking in the hot sunlig