Ivanhoe

He rode, not a mule, like his companion, but a strong hackney for the

road, to save his gallant war-horse, which a squire led behind, fully

accoutred for battle, with a chamfron or plaited head-piece upon his

head, having a short spike projecting from the front. On one side of the

saddle hung a short battle-axe, richly inlaid with Damascene carving;

on the other the rider's plumed head-piece and hood of mail, with a long

two-handed sword, used by the chivalry of the period. A second squire

held aloft his master's lance, from the extremity of which fluttered a

small banderole, or streamer, bearing a cross of the same form with that

embroidered upon his cloak. He also carried his small triangular

shield, broad enough at the top to protect the breast, and from thence

diminishing to a point. It was covered with a scarlet cloth, which

prevented the device from being seen.

These two squires were followed by two attendants, whose dark visages,

white turbans, and the Oriental form of their garments, showed them to

be natives of some distant Eastern country. [9]

The whole appearance of this warrior and his retinue was wild and

outlandish; the dress of his squires was gorgeous, and his Eastern

attendants wore silver collars round their throats, and bracelets of the

same metal upon their swarthy arms and legs, of which the former were

naked from the elbow, and the latter from mid-leg to ankle. Silk and

embroidery distinguished their dresses, and marked the wealth and

importance of their master; forming, at the same time, a striking

contrast with the martial simplicity of his own attire. They were armed

with crooked sabres, having the hilt and baldric inlaid with gold, and

matched with Turkish daggers of yet more costly workmanship. Each of

them bore at his saddle-bow a bundle of darts or javelins, about four

feet in length, having sharp steel heads, a weapon much in use among

the Saracens, and of which the memory is yet preserved in the martial

exercise called "El Jerrid", still practised in the Eastern countries.

The steeds of these attendants were in appearance as foreign as their

riders. They were of Saracen origin, and consequently of Arabian

descent; and their fine slender limbs, small fetlocks, thin manes, and

easy springy motion, formed a marked contrast with the large-jointed,

heavy horses, of which the race was cultivated in Flanders and in

Normandy, for mounting the men-at-arms of the period in all the panoply

of plate and mail; and which, placed by the side of those Eastern

coursers, might have passed for a personification of substance and of

shadow.