d rich tints against the
setting sun. The coverings of the large pavilions were of the gayest
colours--scarlet, bright yellow, pale blue, and other gaudy and gleaming
hues--and the tops of their pillars, or tent-poles, were decorated
with golden pomegranates and small silken flags. But besides these
distinguished pavilions, there were what Thomas de Vaux considered as
a portentous number of the ordinary black tents of the Arabs, being
sufficient, as he conceived, to accommodate, according to the Eastern
fashion, a host of five thousand men. A number of Arabs and Kurds, fully
corresponding to the extent of the encampment, were hastily assembling,
each leading his horse in his hand, and their muster was accompanied by
an astonishing clamour of their noisy instruments of martial music, by
which, in all ages, the warfare of the Arabs has been animated.

They soon formed a deep and confused mass of dismounted cavalry in front
of their encampment, when, at the signal of a shrill cry, which arose
high over the clangour of the music, each cavalier sprung to his saddle.
A cloud of dust arising at the moment of this manoeuvre hid from Richard
and his attendants the camp, the palm-trees, and the distant ridge of
mountains, as well as the troops whose sudden movement had raised the
cloud, and, ascending high over their heads, formed itself into the
fantastic forms of writhed pillars, domes, and minarets. Another shrill
yell was heard from the bosom of this cloudy tabernacle. It was the
signal for the cavalry to advance, which they did at full gallop,
disposing themselves as they came forward so as to come in at once on
the front, flanks, and rear of Richard's little bodyguard, who were thus
surrounded, and almost choked by the dense clouds of dust enveloping
them on each side, through which were seen alternately, and lost, the
grim forms and wild faces of the Saracens, brandishing and tossing their
lances in every possible direction with the wildest cries and halloos,
and frequently only reining up their horses when within a spear's length
of the Christians, while those in the rear discharged over the heads of
both parties thick volleys of arrows. One of these struck the litter in
which the Queen was seated, who loudly screamed, and the red spot was on
Richard's brow in an instant.

"Ha! Saint George," he exclaimed, "we must take some order with this
infidel scum!"

But Edith, whose litter was near, thrust her head out, and with