The Talisman

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And the missive was sanctioned by the signature and seal of the
Soldan.

Richard surveyed the Nubian in silence as he stood before him,
his looks bent upon the ground, his arms folded on his bosom,
with the appearance of a black marble statue of the most
exquisite workmanship, waiting life from the touch of a
Prometheus. The King of England, who, as it was emphatically
said of his successor Henry the Eighth, loved to look upon A MAN,
was well pleased with the thews, sinews, and symmetry of him whom
he now surveyed, and questioned him in the lingua franca, "Art
thou a pagan?"

The slave shook his head, and raising his finger to his brow,
crossed himself in token of his Christianity, then resumed his
posture of motionless humility.

"A Nubian Christian, doubtless," said Richard, "and mutilated of
the organ of speech by these heathen dogs?"

The mute again slowly shook his head, in token of negative,
pointed with his forefinger to Heaven, and then laid it upon his
own lips.

"I understand thee," said Richard; "thou dost suffer under the
infliction of God, not by the cruelty of man. Canst thou clean an
armour and belt, and buckle it in time of need?"

The mute nodded, and stepping towards the coat of mail, which
hung with the shield and helmet of the chivalrous monarch upon
the pillar of the tent, he handled it with such nicety of address
as sufficiently to show that he fully understood the business of
an armour-bearer.

"Thou art an apt, and wilt doubtless be a useful knave. Thou
shalt wait in my chamber, and on my person," said the King, "to
show how much I value the gift of the royal Soldan. If thou hast
no tongue, it follows thou canst carry no tales, neither provoke
me to be sudden by any unfit reply."

The Nubian again prostrated himself till his brow touched the
earth, then stood erect, at some paces distant, as waiting for
his new master's commands.

"Nay, thou shalt commence thy office presently," said Richard,
"for I see a speck of rust darkening on that shield; and when I
shake it in the face of Saladin, it should be bright and
unsullied as the Soldan's honour and mine own."

A horn was winded without, and presently Sir Henry Neville
entered with a packet of dispatches. "From England, my lord," he
said, as he delivered it.

"From England--our own England!" repeated Richard, in a tone of
melancholy enthusiasm. "Alas! they little think how hard their
Sovereign has been beset by sickness and sorrow--faint friends
and forward enemies." Then opening the dispatches, he said
hastily, "Ha! this comes from no peaceful land--they too have
their feuds. Neville, begone; I must peruse these tidings alone,
and at leisure."

Neville withdrew accordingly, and Richard was soon absorbed in
the melancholy details which had been conveyed to him from
England, concerning the factions that were tearing to pieces his
native dominions--the disunion of his brothers John and Geoffrey,
and the quarrels of both with the High Justiciary Longchamp,
Bishop of Ely--the oppressions practised by the nobles upon the
peasantry, and rebellion of the latter against their masters,
which had produced everywhere scenes of discord, and in some
instances the effusion of blood. Details of incidents mortifying
to his pride, and derogatory from his authority, were
intermingled with the earnest advice of his wisest and most
attached counsellors that he should presently return to England,
as his presence offered the only hope of saving the Kingdom from
all the horrors of civil discord, of which France and Scotland
were likely to avail themselves. Filled with the most painful
anxiety, Richard read, and again read, the ill-omened letters;
compared the intelligence which some of them contained with the
same facts as differently stated in others; and soon became
totally insensible to whatever was passing around him, although
seated, for the sake of coolness, close to the entrance of his
tent, and having the curtains withdrawn, so that he could see and
be seen by the guards and others who were stationed without.

Deeper in the shadow of the pavilion, and busied with the task
his new master had imposed, sat the Nubian slave, with his back
rather turned towards the King. He had finished adjusting and
cleaning the hauberk and brigandine, and was now busily employed
on a broad pavesse, or buckler, of unusual size, and covered with
steel-plating, which Richard often used in reconnoitring, or
actually storming fortified places, as a more effectual
protection against missile weapons than the narrow triangular
shield used on horseback. This pavesse bore neither the royal
lions of England, nor any other device, to attract the
observation of the defenders of the walls against which it was
advanced; the care, therefore, of the armourer was addressed to
causing its surface to shine as bright as crystal, in which he
seemed to be peculiarly successful. Beyond the Nubian, and
scarce visible from without, lay the large dog, which might be
termed his brother slave, and which, as if he felt awed by being
transferred to a royal owner, was couched close to the side of
the mute, with head and ears on the ground, and his limbs and
tail drawn close around and under him.

While the Monarch and his new attendant were thus occupied,
another actor crept upon the scene, and mingled among the group
of English yeomen, about a score of whom, respecting the
unusually pensive posture and close occupation of their
Sovereign, were, contrary to their wont, keeping a silent guard
in front of his tent. It was not, however, more vigilant than
usual. Some were playing at games of hazard with small pebbles,
others spoke together in whispers of the approaching day of
battle, and several lay asleep, their bulky limbs folded in their
green mantles.

Amid these careless warders glided the puny form of a little old
Turk, poorly dressed like a marabout or santon of the desert--a
sort of enthusiasts, who sometimes ventured into the camp of the
Crusaders, though treated always with contumely, and often with
violence. Indeed, the luxury and profligate indulgence of the
Christian leaders had occasioned a motley concourse in their
tents of musicians, courtesans, Jewish merchants, Copts, Turks,
and all the varied refuse of the Eastern nations; so that the
caftan and turban, though to drive both from the Holy Land was
the professed object of the expedition, were, nevertheless,
neither an uncommon nor an alarming sight in the camp of the
Crusaders. When, however, the little insignificant figure we
have described approached so nigh as to receive some interruption
from the warders, he dashed his dusky green turban from his head,
showed that his beard and eyebrows were shaved like those of a
professed buffoon, and that the expression of his fantastic and
writhen features, as well as of his little black eyes, which
glittered like jet, was that of a crazed imagination.

"Dance, marabout," cried the soldiers, acquainted with the
manners of these wandering enthusiasts, "dance, or we will
scourge thee with our bow-strings till thou spin as never top did
under schoolboy's lash." Thus shouted the reckless warders, as
much delighted at having a subject to tease as a child when he
catches a butterfly, or a schoolboy upon discovering a bird's
nest.

The marabout, as if happy to do their behests, bounded from the
earth, and spun his giddy round before them with singular
agility, which, when contrasted with his slight and wasted
figure, and diminutive appearance, made him resemble a withered
leaf twirled round and round at the pleasure of the winter's
breeze. His single lock of hair streamed upwards from his bald
and shaven head, as if some genie upheld him by it; and indeed it
seemed as if supernatural art were necessary to the execution of
the wild, whirling dance, in which scarce the tiptoe of the
performer was seen to touch the ground. Amid the vagaries of his
performance he flew here and there, from one spot to another,
still approaching, however, though almost imperceptibly, to the
entrance of the royal tent; so that, when at length he sunk
exhausted on the earth, after two or three bounds still higher
than those which he had yet executed, he was not above thirty
yards from the King's person.

"Give him water," said one yeoman; "they always crave a drink
after their merry-go-round."

"Aha, water, sayest thou, Long Allen?" exclaimed another archer,
with a most scornful emphasis on the despised element; "how
wouldst like such beverage thyself, after such a morrice
dancing?"

"The devil a water-drop he gets here," said a third. "We will
teach the light-footed old infidel to be a good Christian, and
drink wine of Cyprus."

"Ay, ay," said a fourth; "and in case he be restive, fetch thou
Dick Hunter's horn, that he drenches his mare withal."

A circle was instantly formed around the prostrate and exhausted
dervise, and while one tall yeoman raised his feeble form from
the ground, another presented to him a huge flagon of wine.
Incapable of speech, the old man shook his head, and waved away
from him with his hand the liquor forbidden by the Prophet. But
his tormentors were not thus to be appeased.

"The horn, the horn!" exclaimed one. "Little difference between
a Turk and a Turkish horse, and we will use him conforming."

"By Saint George, you will choke him!" said Long Allen; "and
besides, it is a sin to throw away upon a heathen dog as much
wine as would serve a good Christian for a treble night-cap."

"Thou knowest not the nature of these Turks and pagans, Long
Allen," replied Henry Woodstall. "I tell thee, man, that this
flagon of Cyprus will set his brains a-spinning, just in the
opposite direction that they went whirling in the dancing, and so
bring him, as it were, to himself again. Choke? He will no more
choke on it than Ben's black bitch on the pound of butter."

"And for grudging it," said Tomalin Blacklees, "why shouldst thou
grudge the poor paynim devil a drop of drink on earth, since thou
knowest he is not to have a drop to cool the tip of his tongue
through a long eternity?"

"That were hard laws, look ye," said Long Allen, "only for being
a Turk, as his father was before him. Had he been Christian
turned heathen, I grant you the hottest corner had been good
winter quarters for him."

"Hold thy peace, Long Allen," said Henry Woodstall. "I tell thee
that tongue of thine is not the shortest limb about thee, and I
prophesy that it will bring thee into disgrace with Father
Francis, as once about the black-eyed Syrian wench. But here
comes the horn. Be active a bit, man, wilt thou, and just force
open his teeth with the haft of thy dudgeon-dagger."

"Hold, hold--he is conformable," said Tomalin; "see, see, he
signs for the goblet--give him room, boys! OOP SEY ES, quoth the
Dutchman--down it goes like lamb's-wool! Nay, they are true
topers when once they begin--your Turk never coughs in his cup,
or stints in his liquoring."

In fact, the dervise, or whatever he was, drank--or at least
seemed to drink--the large flagon to the very bottom at a single
pull; and when he took it from his lips after the whole contents
were exhausted, only uttered, with a deep sigh, the words, ALLAH
KERIM, or God is merciful. There was a laugh among the yeomen
who witnessed this pottle-deep potation, so obstreperous as to
rouse and disturb the King, who, raising his finger, said
angrily, "How, knaves, no respect, no observance?"

All were at once hushed into silence, well acquainted with the
temper of Richard, which at some times admitted of much military
familiarity, and at others exacted the most precise respect,
although the latter humour was of much more rare occurrence.
Hastening to a more reverent distance from the royal person, they
attempted to drag along with them the marabout, who, exhausted
apparently by previous fatigue, or overpowered by the potent
draught he had just swallowed, resisted being moved from the
spot, both with struggles and groans.

"Leave him still, ye fools," whispered Long Allen to his mates;
"by Saint Christopher, you will make our Dickon go beside
himself, and we shall have his dagger presently fly at our
costards. Leave him alone; in less than a minute he will sleep
like a dormouse."

At the same moment the Monarch darted another impatient glance to
the spot, and all retreated in haste, leaving the dervise on the
ground, unable, as it seemed, to stir a single limb or joint of
his body. In a moment afterward all was as still and quiet as it
had been before the intrusion.

CHAPTER XXI

--and wither'd Murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. MACBETH.

For the space of a quarter of an hour, or longer, after the
incident related, all remained perfectly quiet in the front of
the royal habitation. The King read and mused in the entrance of
his pavilion; behind, and with his back turned to the same
entrance, the Nubian slave still burnished the ample pavesse; in
front of all, at a hundred paces distant, the yeomen of the guard
stood, sat, or lay extended on the grass, attentive to their own
sports, but pursuing them in silence, while on the esplanade
betwixt them and the front of the tent lay, scarcely to be
distinguished from a bundle of rags, the senseless form of the
marabout.

But the Nubian had the advantage of a mirror from the brilliant
reflection which the surface of the highly-polished shield now
afforded, by means of which he beheld, to his alarm and surprise,
that the marabout raised his head gently from the ground, so as
to survey all around him, moving with a well-adjusted precaution
which seemed entirely inconsistent with a state of ebriety. He
couched his head instantly, as if satisfied he was unobserved,
and began, with the slightest possible appearance of voluntary
effort, to drag himself, as if by chance, ever nearer and nearer
to the King, but stopping and remaining fixed at intervals, like
the spider, which, moving towards her object, collapses into
apparent lifelessness when she thinks she is the subject of
observation. This species of movement appeared suspicious to the
Ethiopian, who, on his part, prepared himself, as quietly as
possible, to interfere, the instant that interference should seem
to be necessary.

The marabout, meanwhile, glided on gradually and imperceptibly,
serpent-like, or rather snail-like, till he was about ten yards
distant from Richard's person, when, starting on his feet, he
sprung forward with the bound of a tiger, stood at the King's
back in less than an instant, and brandished aloft the cangiar,
or poniard, which he had hidden in his sleeve. Not the presence
of his whole army could have saved their heroic Monarch; but the
motions of the Nubian had been as well calculated as those of the
enthusiast, and ere the latter could strike, the former caught
his uplifted arm. Turning his fanatical wrath upon what thus
unexpectedly interposed betwixt him and his object, the
Charegite, for such was the seeming marabout, dealt the Nubian a
blow with the dagger, which, however, only grazed his arm, while
the far superior strength of the Ethiopian easily dashed him to
the ground. Aware of what had passed, Richard had now arisen,
and with little more of surprise, anger, or interest of any kind
in his countenance than an ordinary man would show in brushing
off and crushing an intrusive wasp, caught up the stool on which
he had been sitting, and exclaiming only, "Ha, dog!" dashed
almost to pieces the skull of the assassin, who uttered twice,
once in a loud, and once in a broken tone, the words ALLAH
ACKBAR!--God is victorious--and expired at the King's feet.

"Ye are careful warders," said Richard to his archers, in a tone
of scornful reproach, as, aroused by the bustle of what had
passed, in terror and tumult they now rushed into his tent;
"watchful sentinels ye are, to leave me to do such hangman's work
with my own hand. Be silent, all of you, and cease your
senseless clamour!--saw ye never a dead Turk before? Here, cast
that carrion out of the camp, strike the head from the trunk, and
stick it on a lance, taking care to turn the face to Mecca, that
he may the easier tell the foul impostor on whose inspiration he
came hither how he has sped on his errand.--For thee, my swart
and silent friend," he added, turning to the Ethiopian--"but
how's this? Thou art wounded--and with a poisoned weapon, I
warrant me, for by force of stab so weak an animal as that could
scarce hope to do more than raze the lion's hide.--Suck the
poison from his wound one of you--the venom is harmless on the
lips, though fatal when it mingles with the blood."

The yeomen looked on each other confusedly and with hesitation,
the apprehension of so strange a danger prevailing with those who
feared no other.

"How now, sirrahs," continued the King, "are you dainty-lipped,
or do you fear death, that you daily thus?"

"Not the death of a man," said Long Allen, to whom the King
looked as he spoke; "but methinks I would not die like a poisoned
rat for the sake of a black chattel there, that is bought and
sold in a market like a Martlemas ox."

"His Grace speaks to men of sucking poison," muttered another
yeoman, "as if he said, "Go to, swallow a gooseberry!"

"Nay," said Richard, "I never bade man do that which I would not
do myself."

And without further ceremony, and in spite of the general
expostulations of those around, and the respectful opposition of
the Nubian himself, the King of England applied his lips to the
wound of the black slave, treating with ridicule all
remonstrances, and overpowering all resistance. He had no sooner
intermitted his singular occupation, than the Nubian started from
him, and casting a scarf over his arm, intimated by gestures, as
firm in purpose as they were respectful in manner, his
determination not to permit the Monarch to renew so degrading an
employment. Long Allen also interposed, saying that, if it were
necessary to prevent the King engaging again in a treatment of
this kind, his own lips, tongue, and teeth were at the service of
the negro (as he called the Ethiopian), and that he would eat him
up bodily, rather than King Richard's mouth should again approach
him.

Neville, who entered with other officers, added his
remonstrances.

"Nay, nay, make not a needless halloo about a hart that the
hounds have lost, or a danger when it is over," said the King.
"The wound will be a trifle, for the blood is scarce drawn--an
angry cat had dealt a deeper scratch. And for me, I have but to
take a drachm of orvietan by way of precaution, though it is
needless."

Thus spoke Richard, a little ashamed, perhaps, of his own
condescension, though sanctioned both by humanity and gratitude.
But when Neville continued to make remonstrances on the peril to
his royal person, the King imposed silence on him.

"Peace, I prithee--make no more of it. I did it but to show
these ignorant, prejudiced knaves how they might help each other
when these cowardly caitiffs come against us with sarbacanes and
poisoned shafts. But," he added, "take thee this Nubian to thy
quarters, Neville--I have changed my mind touching him--let him
be well cared for. But hark in thine ear; see that he escapes
thee not--there is more in him than seems. Let him have all
liberty, so that he leave not the camp.--And you, ye beef-devouring, wine-swilling English mastiffs, get ye
to your guard
again, and be sure you keep it more warily. Think not you are
now in your own land of fair play, where men speak before they
strike, and shake hands ere they cut throats. Danger in our land
walks openly, and with his blade drawn, and defies the foe whom
he means to assault; but here he challenges you with a silk glove
instead of a steel gauntlet, cuts your throat with the feather of
a turtle-dove, stabs you with the tongue of a priest's brooch, or
throttles you with the lace of my lady's boddice. Go to--keep
your eyes open and your mouths shut--drink less, and look sharper
about you; or I will place your huge stomachs on such short
allowance as would pinch the stomach of a patient Scottish man."

The yeomen, abashed and mortified, withdrew to their post, and
Neville was beginning to remonstrate with his master upon the
risk of passing over thus slightly their negligence upon their
duty, and the propriety of an example in a case so peculiarly
aggravated as the permitting one so suspicious as the marabout to
approach within dagger's length of his person, when Richard
interrupted him with, "Speak not of it, Neville--wouldst thou
have me avenge a petty risk to myself more severely than the loss
of England's banner? It has been stolen--stolen by a thief, or
delivered up by a traitor, and no blood has been shed for it.--My
sable friend, thou art an expounder of mysteries, saith the
illustrious Soldan--now would I give thee thine own weight in
gold, if, by raising one still blacker than thyself or by what
other means thou wilt, thou couldst show me the thief who did
mine honour that wrong. What sayest thou, ha?"

The mute seemed desirous to speak, but uttered only that
imperfect sound proper to his melancholy condition; then folded
his arms, looked on the King with an eye of intelligence, and
nodded in answer to his question.

"How!" said Richard, with joyful impatience. "Wilt thou
undertake to make discovery in this matter?"

The Nubian slave repeated the same motion.

"But how shall we understand each other?" said the King. "Canst
thou write, good fellow?"

The slave again nodded in assent.

"Give him writing-tools," said the King. "They were readier in
my father's tent than mine; but they be somewhere about, if this
scorching climate have not dried up the ink.--Why, this fellow is
a jewel--a black diamond, Neville."

"So please you, my liege," said Neville, "if I might speak my
poor mind, it were ill dealing in this ware. This man must be a
wizard, and wizards deal with the Enemy, who hath most interest
to sow tares among the wheat, and bring dissension into our
councils, and--"

"Peace, Neville," said Richard. "Hello to your northern hound
when he is close on the haunch of the deer, and hope to recall
him, but seek not to stop Plantagenet when he hath hope to
retrieve his honour."

The slave, who during this discussion had been writing, in which
art he seemed skilful, now arose, and pressing what he had
written to his brow, prostrated himself as usual, ere he
delivered it into the King's hands. The scroll was in French,
although their intercourse had hitherto been conducted by Richard
in the lingua franca.

"To Richard, the conquering and invincible King of England, this
from the humblest of his slaves. Mysteries are the sealed
caskets of Heaven, but wisdom may devise means to open the lock.
Were your slave stationed where the leaders of the Christian host
were made to pass before him in order, doubt nothing that if he
who did the injury whereof my King complains shall be among the
number, he may be made manifest in his iniquity, though it be
hidden under seven veils."

"Now, by Saint George!" said King Richard, "thou hast spoken most
opportunely.--Neville, thou knowest that when we muster our
troops to-morrow the princes have agreed that, to expiate the
affront offered to England in the theft of her banner, the
leaders should pass our new standard as it floats on Saint
George's Mount, and salute it with formal regard. Believe me, the
secret traitor will not dare to absent himself from an
expurgation so solemn, lest his very absence should be matter of
suspicion. There will we place our sable man of counsel, and if
his art can detect the villain, leave me to deal with him."

"My liege," said Neville, with the frankness of an English baron,
"beware what work you begin. Here is the concord of our holy
league unexpectedly renewed--will you, upon such suspicion as a
negro slave can instil, tear open wounds so lately closed? Or
will you use the solemn procession, adopted for the reparation of
your honour and establishment of unanimity amongst the discording
princes, as the means of again finding out new cause of offence,
or reviving ancient quarrels? It were scarce too strong to say
this were a breach of the declaration your Grace made to the
assembled Council of the Crusade."

"Neville," said the King, sternly interrupting him, "thy zeal
makes thee presumptuous and unmannerly. Never did I promise to
abstain from taking whatever means were most promising to
discover the infamous author of the attack on my honour. Ere I
had done so, I would have renounced my kingdom, my life. All my
declarations were under this necessary and absolute
qualification;--only, if Austria had stepped forth and owned the
injury like a man, I proffered, for the sake of Christendom, to
have forgiven HIM."

"But," continued the baron anxiously, "what hope that this
juggling slave of Saladin will not palter with your Grace?"

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