The Talisman [antikvár]

THE STORY OF THE TALISMAN. CHAPTER I.—THE KNIGHT OF THE LEOPARD. OxVCE upon a time—to bo more exact, about seven hundred years ago—a handsome young knight, clad in heavy armour and mounted on a big "war-horse, was pacing slowly by the shores of the Dead Sea, under the burning sun of Palestine. Both the knight and his horse were very hot and very weary, and the knight, as he rode, endeavoured to forget his discomfort by thinking of his lady love, the beautiful Princess Edith Plantagenet. This lady was cousin to King Richard Cour de Lion, under whose banner the knight, who bore the name of Sir Kenneth, was now fighting. For at this time Palestine was the scene of many battles. The Crusaders, as the Christian warriors of Europe were called, were fighting hard to win back the Holy Land from the Saracens, under their famous leader, the Sultan Saladin. But just now there was a short truce between the Saracen and the Christian armies, for Richard of Eng- land, who usually commanded the host, lay very ill of a fever. The other Christian princes, Philip, King of France, Leopold, Duke of Austria, and a few others, not being able without Richard to fight successfully against the Sultan, thought they would make terms with him through a certain holy hermit, who dwelt in a cave at Engaddi, and who was wdl known to the Sultan. So they sent a message to the holy man by the hand of Sir Kenneth. Yery little was known in the army about Sir Kenneth, except that he was a Scotch knight, who had brought a body of men to fight with him, and that all these men were dead, except his squire, who now lay ill. They knew also that he was very poor, and very brave, and very proud, and that he had a magnificent hound named Roswal, of whom he was very fond, and perhaps some of them knew that he loved the Lady Edith, and may have suspected that she returned his love; but, if so, no