Sir Quixote of the Moors

nce I set out I had seen their harsh outline against a thick sky, until I longed for flat ground to rest my sight upon. The way was damp, and the soft mountain gravel sank under my h

and show me a hilltop or the leaden glimmer of a loch, but nothing

eled far on little fodder, and a hill-road was a new thing in his experience. Saladin I called him-for I had fancied that there was something Turkish about his black face, with the heavy turban

oway, in the bare kingdom of Scotland, I must haste to tell. In the old days, when I had lived as became my rank in my native land, I had met a Scot,-one Kennedy by name,-a great man in his own country, with whom I struck up an

from which 'twas but a day's ride to the house of my friend. 'Twas in midsummer when I landed, and the place looked not so bare as I had feared, as I rode along between green meadows to my destination. There I found Quentin Kennedy, somewhat grown old and more full in flesh than I remembered him in the past. He had been a tall, bl

n hails from this land, and now I was soon perfect in it, speaking it all but as well as my host. 'Tis a gift I have, for I well remember how, when I consorted for some months in the low countries with an Italian of Milan, I picked up a fair knowledge of his speech. So now I found myself in th

. They would jest at one another till I thought that in a twinkling swords would be out, and lo! I soon found that 'twas but done for sport, and with no evil intent. They were clownish in their understanding, little recking of the feelings of a man of honor, but quick to grow fierce on some titt

ht as I returned weary from riding after a stag in the haugh by the river, that Quenti

ong the folk of the hills, and I am out the morrow to redd the marches. You shall have a

ard drinking and idleness were at an end, and that the rigors of warfare lay before me. For I

We fought, not with men like ourselves, but with women and children and unarmed yokels, and butchered like Cossacks more than Christians. I grew sick of the work, and would have none of it, but

ew of the men with whom I journeyed. There was a cottage there, a shepherd's house, and God! they burned it down, and the man they shot before his wife and children, speaking naug

to Quent

ds, but you and I must part. I see that we are made o

urpose, until at last he saw that I was fixed

king, and but do my duty. I little thought to have disloyalty preached from

n's forbearance-he offered me money to recompense me for my trouble. 'Twas honestly meant

no payment from butchers. I a

among the moors. I knew naught of the land, and I must have taken the wrong way, for noon found me hopelessly mazed among a tangl

bitter at the coldness of a friend who would permit a stranger to ride off alone with scarce a word of regret. When I have thought the matter out in after days, I have been as perplexed as ever; yet i

he famishing and the cold rain. For, though 'twas late August, the month of harvest and fruit-time in my own fair land, it seemed more like winter. The gusts of sharp wind came driving out of the mist and pierced me to the very marrow. So chill were they that my garments were of no avail to avert them; being, indeed, of the thinnest

a stream, I fancied ere I drank it that the water would taste like the Bordeaux I was wont to drink at the little hostelry in the Rue Margot; and when the tasteless liquid once entered my mouth, the disenchantment was severe. I met one peasant, an old man bent with toil, coarse-featured, yet not without some gleams of kindness, and I could not refrain from addressing him in my native tongue. For though I could make some shape at his barbarous

ess which men call the world? An empty belly and a wet skin do not tend to sedate thinking, so small wonder if I saw little ahead. I was making f

strous bowlder for a gable-end. I cheered my heart with thinking of dainties to be looked for; a dish of boiled fish, or a piece of mutton from one of the wild-faced sheep which bounded ever and anon across my path. Nay, I was in no mood to be fastidious. I would e'en be content with

, where moor birds made a most dreary wailing. It minded me of the cries of the innocents whom King Herod slew, as I had seen the dead represented outside the village church of Rohaine in my far-away homeland. My heart grew sore with longing. I had bartered my native country for the most dismal on earth, and all for nothing. Madman that I was, were it not better to be a beggar in France than a horse-captain in any other place? I cursed my folly sorely, a

sses. Of a sudden my horse would have a forefoot in a pool of black peat-water, from which I would scarce, by much pulling, recover him. A sharp jag of s

limmer shot through the thick darkness. I could have clapped my hands for joy had I been able

ourage, Saladin! Ther

ll go not a foot further for man or devil. My sword must e'en be my fourrier to get me a night's lodging. Then I saw the house, a low, dark place, unillumined save for that front window which